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Physical - Astronomy
Largest Black Holes by Mass
This list features the largest black holes in space by mass.
RANK | BLACK HOLE | MASS | MASS EXPLAINED | GALAXY |
1 | Phoenix A | 1 × 10¹¹ M☉ | Approximately 126 billion times the mass of our Sun. | Phoenix |
2 | IC 1101 | 9.77 +17.14 −6.22 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 97.7 billion and 117 billion solar masses. | Virgo |
3 | 4C +74.13 | 5.13 +9.66 −3.35 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 51.3 billion and 61.3 billion solar masses. | Camelopardalis |
4 | TON 618 | 4.07 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | About 40.7 billion times the mass of our Sun. | Canes Venatici |
5 | Holmberg 15A | 4.0 ± 0.8 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 32 billion and 40 billion solar masses. | Cetus |
6 | S5 0014+81 | 4 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | About 40 billion times the mass of our Sun. | Cepheus |
7 | NGC 3842 | 3.46 +6.30 −2.24 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 34.6 billion and 40.6 billion solar masses. | Leo |
8 | SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 | 3.4 ± 0.6 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 28 billion and 34 billion solar masses. | Piscis Austrinus |
9 | SDSS J102325.31+514251.0 | 3.31 +0.67 −0.56 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 33.1 billion and 39.8 billion solar masses. | Ursa Major |
10 | Abell 1201 BCG | 3.27 ± 0.71 × 10¹⁰ M☉ | Between about 32.7 billion and 37.5 billion solar masses. | Leo |
References
NASA (n.d.) ‘NASA animation sizes up the universe's biggest black holes’. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/universe/nasa-animation-sizes-up-the-universes-biggest-black-holes [Accessed 1 December 2025].
CNN (2024) ‘Massive black hole jets Porphyrion’. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/24/science/massive-black-hole-jets-porphyrion/index.html [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Meson Stars (n.d.) ‘The 10 largest black holes in the universe’. Available at: https://www.mesonstars.com/space/the-10-largest-black-holes-in-the-universe-2/ [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Largest (n.d.) ‘Largest black holes in the universe’. Available at: https://www.largest.org/nature/largest-black-holes-in-the-universe/ [Accessed 1 December 2025].
World Atlas (n.d.) ‘5 most massive black holes discovered so far in the universe’. Available at: https://www.worldatlas.com/space/5-most-massive-black-holes-discovered-so-far-in-the-universe.html [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Wikipedia (n.d.) ‘List of most massive black holes’. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_massive_black_holes [Accessed 1 December 2025].
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Ghisellini, G., Foschini, L., Volonteri, M., Ghirlanda, G., Haardt, F., Burlon, D., Tavecchio, F. et al. (2009) ‘The blazar S5 0014+813: a real or apparent monster?’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 399(1), pp. L24–L28. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/0906.0575 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Gaensler, B. (2012) Extreme Cosmos: A Guided Tour of the Fastest, Brightest, Hottest, Heaviest, Oldest, and Most Amazing Aspects of Our Universe. New York: Penguin. ISBN: 978-1-101-58701-0. [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Onken, C.A., Bian, F., Fan, X., Wang, F., Wolf, C. and Yang, J. (2020) ‘Thirty-four billion solar mass black hole in SMSS J2157–3602, the most luminous known quasar’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496(2), pp. 2309. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.06868 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Zuo, W., Wu, X.-B., Fan, X., Green, R., Wang, R. and Bian, F. (2014) ‘Black Hole Mass Estimates and Rapid Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Luminous z ∼ 3.5 Quasars’, The Astrophysical Journal, 799(2), 189. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.2438 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
Nightingale, J.W., Smith, R.J., He, Q., O'Riordan, C.M., Kegerreis, J.A., Amvrosiadis, A., Edge, A.C., Etherington, A., Hayes, R.G., Kelly, A., Lucey, J.R. and Massey, R.J. (2023) ‘Abell 1201: detection of an ultramassive black hole in a strong gravitational lens’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 521(3), pp. 3298–3322. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.15514 [Accessed 1 December 2025].
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