Scientists have tapped into gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics to confirm the existence of a black hole with 36 billion solar masses.

After years of follow-up study, an international research team led by the University of Texas at Austin’s Cosmic Frontier Center say they can now confirm CAPERS-LRD-z9 contains the oldest supermassive black hole ever detected.

For a spacecraft like that to reach a black hole in such a relatively short time, there would have to be a black hole 20-25 light-years from Earth, and none so close have been observed yet. Observing a black hole so close could answer questions that might warp the rules of physics.