Beyza Binnur Donmez
06 July 2026•Update: 06 July 2026
The European Space Agency (ESA) said Monday that its Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of "the most ancient quasars ever found," including the two oldest ever observed, offering new clues about the formation of the first supermassive black holes and galaxies.
In a statement, the agency said the newly identified quasars date to when the universe was as little as 670 million years old, or about 5% of its current age. Powered by supermassive black holes, quasars are among the brightest objects in the universe, with some emitting as much light as a trillion suns.
The discovery includes 12 quasars with a redshift of seven or higher, corresponding to the universe's first 770 million years. The two oldest, EUCL J172902.75+641018.1 and EUCL J125308.55+705432.3, have redshifts of 7.77 and 7.69, surpassing the previous record of 7.64 set in 2021.
"By finding and studying them, we can better understand how these enormous systems formed and grew so quickly – one of the greatest mysteries in astrophysics," lead author Daming Yang of Leiden University said.
ESA research fellow Antonio La Marca said Euclid had discovered more than a dozen extremely ancient quasars in a single year, more than doubling the known population from that period after more than a decade of observations.
Launched in 2023, Euclid is designed to map more than one-third of the sky as it investigates the universe's structure and evolution, as well as the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
