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Euclid telescope spots oldest quasars ever discovered, adding to "perplexing" space mystery
CBS News • • general
Key Points:
- The Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 quasars, including the two oldest ever observed, with light dating back to when the universe was just 670 million years old, significantly earlier than previous records.
- Quasars are extremely bright objects powered by supermassive black holes, and studying them helps scientists understand the early universe, particularly the epoch of reionization when the first stars and galaxies formed.
- Euclid, launched in 2023 by the European Space Agency, has doubled the number of known ancient quasars in just two years by efficiently detecting much fainter light across vast areas of the sky.
- The discovery deepens a cosmic mystery as these massive quasars existed when the universe was very young, challenging current understanding of how such enormous black holes could grow so rapidly.
- Euclid's broader mission includes mapping one-third of the sky to study dark matter and dark energy, while capturing unprecedented detailed images of galaxies and galaxy clusters billions of light years away.
