This is an ordered list of the most massive black holes so far discovered (and probable candidates), measured in units of solar masses (M☉), approximately 2×1030 kilograms.
In all other galaxies observed to date, the rms velocities are flat, or even falling, toward the center, making it impossible to state with certainty that a supermassive black hole is present.
Such methods, such as broad emission-line reverberation mapping (BLRM), Doppler measurements, velocity dispersion, and the aforementioned M–sigma relation have not yet been well established.
Some objects in this list have two citations, like 3C 273; one from Bradley M. Peterson et al. using the BLRM method,[4] and the other from Charles Nelson using [OIII]λ5007 value and velocity dispersion.
[5] Note that this list is very far from complete, as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) alone detected 200000 quasars, which likely may be the homes of billion-solar-mass black holes.
[15][16] Previous indirect assumptions about the efficiencies of gas accretion and jet power yield a lower limit of 1 billion M☉.