Oldest quasars discovered by Euclid telescope deepen cosmic mystery in July 2026

The Euclid space telescope has identified the oldest quasars ever discovered, revealing new insights into cosmic history on July 12, 2026. This groundbreaking discovery, announced by an international team of astronomers, includes 31 ancient quasars, with the oldest dating back to when the universe was just 670 million years old.

Discoveries from the Euclid Telescope

Launched by the European Space Agency in 2023, the Euclid telescope has transformed the study of ancient quasars, doubling the number known to science within just two years. The newly discovered quasars, including the two oldest, provide a unique opportunity to study the early universe. The light from these quasars reached Earth from a time when the universe was only 5% of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

The two oldest quasars, named EUCL J172902.75+641018.1 and EUCL J125308.55+705432.3, have redshifts of 7.77 and 7.69, respectively. This discovery surpasses the previous record for the oldest quasar, announced in 2021, by approximately 20 million years.

The Cosmic Quandary of Quasars

Quasars, which are powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of early galaxies, shine trillions of times brighter than the sun. The discovery of these ancient quasars adds to the ongoing mystery surrounding their formation and growth during the universe's infancy. According to Daming Yang, the lead author of the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, “We can use quasars as a lighthouse to study the gas between us and them, so that we can trace how the universe was reionized through this cosmic history.”

The findings also highlight a perplexing issue: as telescopes become more advanced, scientists are discovering that galaxies and cosmic objects were much larger than previously thought at such an early age. Joseph Hennawi, a co-author of the study, remarked, “Every step further back in time makes the puzzle more perplexing. These monsters—weighing billions of times the mass of our sun—somehow already existed when the universe was in its infancy.”

Future Research and Implications

The team of astronomers is eager to continue their exploration by searching for even older quasars. They plan to analyze data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope, which recently observed the newly discovered quasars. Yang expressed hope for the future, stating that they aim to create “a quasar chronicle of the first billion years” of the universe.

This research not only advances our understanding of quasars but also sheds light on the conditions of the early universe. As astronomers delve deeper into cosmic history, the implications of these findings could reshape our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution.