An international team has identified 31 of the oldest known quasars, including the two earliest ever observed, shining when the universe was less than a billion years old. These ancient cosmic powerhouses challenge existing ideas about how supermassive black holes formed so quickly after the Big Bang.
- 31 ancient quasars discovered dating back 670 million years after the Big Bang
- Euclid space telescope’s infrared observations bypass Earth’s atmospheric limits
- Findings reveal mysteries about the rapid growth of early supermassive black holes
What happened
Astronomers have uncovered 31 of the oldest quasars ever seen, including two shining from a time when the universe was just about 670 million years old—less than 5% of its current age. These quasars are incredibly luminous objects powered by supermassive black holes that consume surrounding gas and dust at the centers of distant young galaxies.
This breakthrough was made possible by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope, launched in 2023. By observing above Earth’s atmosphere, Euclid captures faint infrared light that ground-based telescopes struggle to detect due to atmospheric interference. These observations allowed researchers to identify many more early quasars than ever before, broadening our understanding of the early universe.
Why it feels good
Finding these ancient quasars provides a remarkable window into a very poorly understood phase of cosmic history. Scientists now have a larger sample to study how supermassive black holes, some billions of times the mass of the Sun, grew so quickly when the universe was still in its infancy. This helps fill key gaps in our knowledge about the formation and evolution of the earliest galaxies.
The ability to detect such distant and faint objects also highlights the power of cutting-edge space technology like Euclid. It’s exciting to see how advancements in observing techniques can open up new chapters in our cosmic story, revealing details previously hidden from view and enriching our understanding of the universe.
What to enjoy or watch next
As Euclid continues its mission to map more than a third of the sky, astronomers expect to discover even more ancient quasars and early galaxies. This expanding survey will provide an unparalleled view into the universe’s formative years and the growth of cosmic giants like supermassive black holes.
In the near future, follow-up studies using other telescopes will help decipher the environments of these early quasars, including the gas, dust, and stars surrounding them. These investigations aim to unravel the mysteries of how such massive black holes managed to form and shine brightly so soon after the Big Bang.