Overview
- The Euclid team published its discovery on Monday, July 6, 2026, reporting 31 quasars from the early universe including two record‑holders at redshifts z = 7.77 and z = 7.69.
- A redshift of about 7 to 8 means the light left these objects roughly 600–800 million years after the Big Bang, so they probe the epoch when the first stars and galaxies ionized the intergalactic gas.
- Euclid identified candidates across its Wide Survey using machine‑learning selection of near‑infrared images and the team confirmed targets with ground telescopes including Keck, Magellan and the Large Binocular Telescope.
- Early follow-up found at least one quasar inside a dusty, gas‑rich galaxy forming stars rapidly, and the team has secured JWST and ALMA programs to measure black‑hole masses, host gas and dust, and the surrounding intergalactic medium.
- The discovery more than doubles the known sample of z≳7 quasars, lets astronomers move from single outliers to population studies, and sharpens the open question of how billion‑solar‑mass black holes grew so fast while promising many more high‑redshift finds from future Euclid releases.