The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of the oldest quasars in the Universe.
Two of them are now the earliest known quasars, shining when the Universe was only 670 million years old, about 5% of its current age. Each was powered by a huge black hole and was as bright as a trillion Suns.
Quasars are extremely bright galaxy centers powered by supermassive black holes. As gas and dust fall into the black hole, they release enormous amounts of energy, making the galaxy’s core shine much brighter than the rest of the galaxy.
Scientists have searched for the first quasars for many years because they can reveal how the earliest galaxies and supermassive black holes formed. They are very hard to find because they are rare, extremely distant, and their faint light can easily be mistaken for nearby stars.
Launched in 2023, Euclid is helping astronomers explore this early period of the Universe. Its latest discoveries of 31 ancient quasars provide one of the biggest collections of these rare objects ever found from the dawn of cosmic history.
Why it matters:
These discoveries give scientists a better look at the young Universe, helping them understand how the first galaxies and supermassive black holes formed and evolved shortly after the Big Bang.
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