Astronomers have reported that they have found and measured one of the largest black holes found in the universe as of late.

The hole is said to be 10 times the size of our solar system into which billions of suns are said to have vanished. One of these newly surveyed abysses clocks in as much as 21 billion Suns, and is known as NGC 4889. It is located in the brightest galaxy about 336 million light-years away in the Coma constellation.

These results are more than just awesome and record-setting. Observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope over the years have made known that such enormous black holes seem to dwell in the centers of all galaxies and it follows that the bigger the galaxy, the bigger the black hole.

Researchers said that new findings could make clear the role these black holes play in the structure and development of galaxies.

The previous record-holder of biggest black hole was in the galaxy M87, a part of the Virgo cluster some 54 million light-years from here. The black hole weighed in at a 6.3 billion solar masses, a relative lightweight to the new finding.

Astronomers think that the massive black holes in galaxies could be the missing link connecting the early universe and today's universe. It has been said that in the young days of the universe, quasars were thought to be driven by giant black holes in cataclysmic feeding frenzies; frenzies that funneled energy into space.

"These are the most massive reliably measured black holes ever. Measurements of these massive black holes will help us understand how their host galaxies were assembled, and how the holes achieved such monstrous mass," Nicholas J. McConnell, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an e-mail, referring to the innovative observations.