Astronomers Discover Supermassive , 'Monster' Black Hole , in Dim Dwarf Galaxy.br 'The Independent' reports that scientists have br discovered a "mini" black hole hiding in a relatively br small galaxy about 110 million light years away. .br The "mini" black hole has a reported br mass estimated to be about br 200,000 times that of the sun. .br It is located in a small galaxy called Mrk 462, br which contains just several hundred million stars. .br In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy br contains approximately one hundred billion stars. .br This black hole in Mrk 462 is among br the smallest of the supermassive, br or monster, black holes. br Black holes like this are br notoriously hard to find, Jack Parker, co-author of the study, br Dartmouth College, via 'The Independent'.br Dwarf galaxies are too small and dim br for astronomers to track the motion of br the stars they contain and locate black holes. .br Instead, astronomers search for other signs br of black holes, like superheated gas br and brightly-glowing x-rays. .br Because buried black holes are even br harder to detect than exposed ones, br finding this example might mean there br are a lot more dwarf galaxies out br there with similar black holes, Ryan Hickox, astronomer and co-author br of the study, via 'The Independent'.br This is important because it could br help address a major question br in astrophysics: How did black holes br get so big so early in the universe?, Ryan Hickox, astronomer and co-author br of the study, via 'The Independent'.br We can’t make strong conclusions from one br example, but this result should encourage br much more extensive searches for br buried black holes in dwarf galaxies.