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2mo ago

Euclid Finds 31 Quasars From the Universe’s First 700 Million Years

The new sample opens population-level study of early supermassive black holes with planned JWST, ALMA and ground spectroscopy to measure their masses and host galaxies.

Yellow dots mark the locations of 29 quasars newly discovered by ESA's Euclid space telescope, set against its survey footprint (blue) and an all-sky map from ESA's Planck mission. The two red dots are the record-breakers — EUCL J172902.75+641018.1 and EUCL J125308.55+705432.3 — the oldest quasars ever identified. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Planck Collaboration/A. Mellinger; Acknowledgment: Jean-Charles Cuillandre, João Dinis)
Image
Artist's concept of a quasar. Quasars are some of the most luminous events in the universe. They are the result of black holes in the early universe undergoing feeding frenzies. Of the 31 newly discovered quasars by the Euclid space telescope, 2 are the most ancient quasars yet found. Image via ESA.
This collage shows 15 of the 31 newly discovered quasars by ESA’s Euclid space telescope. EUCL J172902.75+641018.1 and EUCL J125308.55+705432.3 are visible on the first row, the first and second from the left, respectively. Image credit: ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA / Euclid Science Ground Segment / Antoine Basset, CNES.

Overview

  • A team using ESA’s Euclid space telescope identified 31 quasars at redshifts z ≈ 6.6–7.8, corresponding to roughly 670–800 million years after the Big Bang.
  • Two objects, EUCL J172902.75+641018.1 (z = 7.77) and EUCL J125308.55+705432.3 (z = 7.69), set new records as the most distant quasars yet found.
  • Euclid’s wide, space-based near-infrared imaging plus machine-learning selection produced the candidate list and ground spectroscopy, notably at Keck, has confirmed about two-thirds of the sample including the most distant examples.
  • The discovery was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics in July 2026 and the team has secured follow-up time on JWST and ALMA to measure black-hole masses, gas chemistry and host-galaxy properties.
  • Early follow-up with NOEMA shows at least one host galaxy is dusty and forming stars at >250 solar masses per year, and the full six-year Euclid survey is expected to expand the sample and sharpen tests of how supermassive black holes grew so fast.