The black hole's voracious appetite, which has allowed it to pile on more than seven million solar masses in just 12 million years, exceeds the theoretical maximum growth rate and goes some way to explaining how black holes could grow so massive so quickly in the early universe.

Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and modern telescopes continue to observe them at surprisingly early times in the universe's evolution.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Chandra X-ray Observatory helped identify the “fastest-feeding black hole” - LID-568.

With the advent of the Webb Space Telescope, the problem has pushed up against theoretical limits. The matter falling into a black hole generates radiation, with faster feeding meaning more radiation.

Understanding how these black holes managed to grow so rapidly in the early universe has posed significant challenges.