Quasars as bright as a trillion Suns already existed when the Universe was 5% of its present age

2026-07-11 00:50 KST

ESA’s Euclid telescope has identified 31 quasars from the early Universe. Two are the most distant quasars observed so far, with the most distant light leaving when the Universe was about 670 million years old.

Generated image: a ONEPRESS scientific artist impression based on the Euclid findings. It is not a Euclid observation and conceptually represents an early quasar and its young galactic environment.

Verification date and core finding

As of July 11, 2026, ESA and the Euclid Consortium report that Euclid has identified 31 quasars at redshifts 6.6 < z < 7.8. The study was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics under DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/202658883.

The record object, EUCL J172902.75+641018.1, has a redshift of about 7.77. Its light began travelling when the Universe was roughly 670 million years old, only about 5% of its present age. A quasar is the intensely luminous active centre of a galaxy, powered as matter falls toward a supermassive black hole.

What makes this remarkable

The two quasars at redshifts 7.77 and 7.69 are now the first- and second-most distant quasars observed. The previous record was 7.64.

Before this work, only nine quasars had been confirmed beyond redshift 7. The total is now 23. Astronomy is beginning to move from a handful of exceptional objects toward a sample large enough to compare early black-hole populations.

What was difficult before

Cosmic expansion stretches the light of these distant quasars into the near-infrared. Earth’s atmosphere also glows at these wavelengths, making faint early quasars hard to isolate across wide areas from the ground.

Euclid combines deep visible and near-infrared imaging over a broad survey. Candidates were selected from about 3,000 square degrees collected during its first 1.5 years, then spectroscopically confirmed with Keck, Magellan and the Large Binocular Telescope.

Why it matters now

The existence of extremely luminous quasars so early forces models to explain how supermassive black holes grew in a short cosmic interval. Researchers must test whether small seed black holes accreted exceptionally fast, whether heavier seeds formed, and how young galaxies and black holes evolved together.

Their spectra also act as backlights for the epoch of reionization. They can trace neutral hydrogen and the environments of early galaxies, helping reconstruct how the Universe changed from a dark, mostly neutral state into the transparent cosmos seen today.

What this could change

The discovery will not immediately change daily technology. Its value is that theories of the first galaxies and black holes can now be tested against a much larger sample, while Webb and major ground observatories gain a richer list of follow-up targets.

Euclid was designed primarily to map billions of galaxies for studies of dark matter and dark energy. Its success here shows how a large, uniform survey can also reveal rare objects that were not the mission’s only target.

Limits that must not be overstated

“Most ancient quasar” refers to the earliest light-arrival epoch yet measured for a quasar; it does not directly date the birth of the black hole. “A trillion Suns” compares luminosity and does not mean the object contains a trillion Sun-like stars.

The 31 objects are a selected and confirmed early-survey sample. Their black-hole masses and growth histories are not all established. Predictions of hundreds more high-redshift quasars, including possible objects beyond redshift 8, are expectations for the full six-year survey, not completed discoveries.

What to check in the primary sources

The ESA release gives the record objects, redshifts, cosmic age and mission context.

The Euclid Consortium release explains the increase from nine to 23 confirmed quasars beyond redshift 7 and summarizes candidate selection and ground-based confirmation.

The journal paper and open manuscript provide the sample definition, instruments, methods and stated limitations.

Next checkpoint and today’s takeaway

Follow-up spectroscopy should refine black-hole masses, host-galaxy properties and surrounding neutral hydrogen. Euclid’s survey is planned for six years, so future releases may change the distance record again.

The central result is more than a distance record: when the Universe was about 5% of its current age, highly luminous supermassive black holes already existed, and researchers can now compare them by the dozens rather than only as isolated examples.