The European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory identified 31 ancient quasars powered by feeding supermassive black holes that existed within the universe's first 770 million years. Two of the objects date to just 670 million years after the Big Bang, breaking a cosmic distance record previously established in 2021. Launched in 2023, the telescope is uniquely engineered to detect fainter light across wide swaths of the sky, giving scientists a much more representative population sample.
Key points
The Euclid space telescope has more than doubled the known count of exceptionally ancient…: The Euclid space telescope has more than doubled the known count of exceptionally ancient quasars dating back to cosmic dawn.
Observations of both bright and faint quasars will provide researchers with a much more r…: Observations of both bright and faint quasars will provide researchers with a much more representative view of the early universe.
Studying these ancient structures provides crucial evidence for how supermassive black ho…: Studying these ancient structures provides crucial evidence for how supermassive black holes could expand so rapidly in the infant universe.
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- Date:
- November 14, 2026
- Source:
- European Space Agency
- Summary:
- ESA’s Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 ancient quasars, including two record-breaking objects that shone with the brightness of a trillion Suns when the Universe was just 670 million years old. Powered by supermassive black holes, these extraordinary cosmic beacons reveal a time when the first galaxies were still taking shape.
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The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 exceptionally ancient quasars, including two that have set new records as the earliest ever observed. These brilliant galactic centers, powered by enormous black holes, were already radiating as much light as a trillion Suns when the Universe was only 670 million years old, about 5% of its present age.
Quasars are among the brightest objects in the cosmos. They appear during a relatively short period in a galaxy's history when huge quantities of gas and other material spiral toward its central supermassive black hole. This process releases extraordinary amounts of energy, causing the galaxy's core to shine hundreds or even thousands of…
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