New discovery: Black holes are less massive than previously thought.

Scientists have recently discovered that the universe's supermassive black holes are not as massive as previously thought.

Astronomers from the University of Southampton, working with colleagues from across Europe , have examined a newborn galaxy 12 billion light-years from Earth for the first time using a powerful new telescope, according to the British news agency PA Media.

Scientists found that the galaxy's supermassive black hole was ten times smaller than expected, and they believe they have been overestimating the size of black holes in the universe.

Professor Sepp Honig said the results solve a puzzle scientists have long faced about how supermassive black holes can grow to such large sizes in such short periods of time.

He added: "For years, we've wondered how we could have discovered all these fully formed, massive black holes in galaxies so young, so soon after the Big Bang. Presumably, they didn't have time to grow to that size."

He continued: "Our results indicate that the methods previously used to measure the size of these black holes do not work reliably in the early universe."

"It could lead to a re-evaluation of our models of cosmic evolution," he said.

The discovery, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, was made using an advanced astronomical instrument called Gravity+, which combines light from four of the world's largest optical telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.

The team included scientists from France, Germany, Portugal and Belgium.