ESA\u2019s Euclid telescope has confirmed 31 quasars from the early Universe. Two surpass the previous distance record, while the known sample beyond redshift 7 has grown from nine to 23.<\/p>\n
What was found and which record changed<\/h2>\n
ESA and the Euclid Consortium confirmed 31 quasars at redshifts 6.6 to 7.8<\/strong>. The most distant, EUCL J172902.75+641018.1<\/strong>, is at 7.77<\/strong> and the second at 7.69<\/strong>, both beyond the previous record of 7.64<\/strong>. The most distant light left when the Universe was about 670 million years old<\/strong>, roughly 5% of its present age. A quasar is an intensely luminous galactic centre powered by matter falling toward a supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n Before this study, only nine quasars had been confirmed beyond redshift 7; the total is now 23. Twelve of Euclid\u2019s 31 additions lie in that range. Researchers can begin comparing a population rather than explaining isolated extremes, testing how billion-solar-mass black holes grew so quickly and how they relate to galaxies and neutral hydrogen during reionisation.<\/p>\n Euclid surveys broad areas from space in visible and near-infrared light. Researchers selected candidates from about 3,000 square degrees<\/strong> collected during the first 1.5 years<\/strong>, using machine learning and spectral-colour signatures, then confirmed them with spectroscopy from Keck, Magellan and the Large Binocular Telescope. The Consortium reports a confirmation efficiency of about 30%, roughly ten times earlier efforts.<\/p>\n The sample gives black-hole growth and early-galaxy models a much stronger test and provides backlights for studying reionisation. But \u201cmost ancient\u201d refers to the earliest quasar light observed, not a direct measurement of when the black hole was born. \u201cA trillion Suns\u201d compares luminosity; it does not mean the object contains a trillion Sun-like stars. The masses and growth histories of all 31 black holes are not yet known.<\/p>\n The ESA release<\/a> explains the two record objects and cosmic age. The Euclid Consortium release<\/a> describes the sample increase, search method and DR1 data release planned for late 2026. The journal paper<\/a> and open manuscript<\/a> provide DOI 10.1051\/0004-6361\/202658883<\/strong>, selection criteria and methods. Forecasts of hundreds more discoveries over the full six-year survey are expectations, not completed results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ESA\u2019s Euclid telescope has confirmed 31 quasars from the early Universe. Two surpass the previous distance record, while the known sample beyond redshift 7 has grown from nine to 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-548","briefing","type-briefing","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing\/548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/briefing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why the sample matters more than the record<\/h2>\n
![\"Scientific](\"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/euclid-ancient-quasars-en.png\")
How Euclid found such faint quasars<\/h2>\n
What changes and what remains unknown<\/h2>\n
Primary sources and the next checkpoint<\/h2>\n