A groundbreaking study has revealed that supermassive black holes may not be as massive as previously believed. Researchers from the University of Southampton and European colleagues observed a distant quasar, finding that its central black hole has a mass of approximately one billion suns, significantly less than earlier estimates of ten billion. This discovery, made using the Gravity+ instrument at the European Southern Observatory, indicates that intense radiation from the black hole is expelling gas, hindering its growth. The findings challenge existing models of cosmic evolution and raise questions about how fully grown supermassive black holes existed in young galaxies shortly after the Big Bang. The study's lead researchers emphasized the need to reconsider black hole measurement methods and the implications for our understanding of the universe.