Euclid Telescope Unveils Oldest Quasars, Deepening Cosmic Enigma
Euclid telescope spots oldest quasars ever – Recent observations by the Euclid space telescope have led to the identification of the most ancient quasars ever recorded—cosmic entities that emit light from supermassive black holes devouring matter in early galaxies. These findings intensify a long-standing conundrum in astrophysics, as they challenge existing theories about the universe’s formative stages.
The Quasar Discovery
Researchers, led by Daming Yang, a PhD student at Leiden University, announced the discovery of 31 quasars in a study published this week. Among them, two stand out as the oldest observed yet, their light originating when the universe was approximately 670 million years old. This marks a significant leap from the previous record set in 2021 by about 20 million years. Quasars, known for their luminous intensity, can outshine the sun by trillions of times, making them ideal for probing the early cosmos.
“Euclid has transformed this field,” Yang stated. “Before, we could only find a handful of the brightest ancient quasars, but Euclid allows us to search more efficiently across vast skies, capturing fainter light. It’s a unique tool for quasar hunting.”
Cosmic Quandary
The newly found quasars are linked to the epoch of reionization, a period when the first stars and galaxies emerged, ending the universe’s dark age. Scientists use quasars as celestial beacons to map the interstellar gas that once shrouded the cosmos, helping trace the process of reionization. However, this discovery also highlights a growing puzzle: galaxies at such early stages appear far larger than models predict.
“Every step further back in time makes the puzzle more perplexing,” said Joseph Hennawi, a co-author of the study. “These monsters—weighing billions of solar masses—somehow existed when the universe was just a fraction of its current age. We lack a clear explanation for how they grew so massive so quickly.”
As the team continues to analyze data from the James Webb Space Telescope, they aim to construct a detailed “quasar chronicle” of the universe’s first billion years. This effort could shed light on the mysteries of galaxy formation and the role of supermassive black holes in shaping cosmic evolution.
Euclid’s Mission and Achievements
Launched on July 1, 2023, from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Euclid telescope operates about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, positioned on the far side of the moon’s orbit. Its mission spans six years, with the goal of mapping one-third of the sky to investigate dark matter and dark energy.
Just months into its operation, Euclid captured groundbreaking images, including a detailed portrait of the Milky Way’s dense galactic core, revealing over 60 million stars. In 2024, it produced stunning visuals of the Abell 2390 galaxy cluster, located 2.7 billion light-years away, which spans more than 50,000 galaxies. Earlier in 2023, a wide-angle image of the Perseus galaxy cluster showcased over 1,000 gravitationally bound galaxies, with countless others in the distant background.
