The brightest known object in the universe, a quasar 500tn times brighter than our sun, was “hiding in plain sight”, researchers say. Ednews reports this information citing The Guardian.

Australian scientists spotted a quasar powered by the fastest growing black hole ever discovered. Its mass is about 17bn times that of our solar system’s sun, and it devours the equivalent of a sun a day.

The light from the celestial object travelled for more than 12bn years to reach Earth.

Australian National University scientists first spotted it using a 2.3-metre telescope at the university’s NSW Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran. They then confirmed the find using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope, which has a primary mirror of 8 metres.

The findings by the ANU researchers, in collaboration with the ESO, the University of Melbourne, and France’s Sorbonne Université have been published in Nature Astronomy.

The lead author and ANU associate professor, Christian Wolf, said it was the most luminous known object in the universe, and that its incredible rate of growth meant a “huge release of light and heat” – and that he doubted its record would ever be beaten.