Daily News Analysis ‘Euclid Telescope Discovers Oldest Known Quasars ’ : 7 July

Why in News:

• The European Space Agency (ESA)‘s Euclid Space Telescope has discovered the oldest known quasars, offering new insights into the early Universe.

Oldest Quasars & Quasar: Key Facts

• Quasar (Quasi-Stellar Object – QSO): The extremely bright core of a distant active galaxy, powered by a supermassive black hole.
• Formation: Gas falling into the black hole releases enormous energy, making a quasar shine as brightly as trillions of Suns.
• Recent Discovery: Euclid identified 31 ancient quasars, including the two oldest ever detected.
• Age: Their light was emitted when the Universe was about 670 million years old, nearly 5% of its current age (13.8 billion years).
• Euclid Telescope:
  • Space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) launched in 2023.
  • Located near the Second Lagrange Point (L2), about 1.5 million km from Earth.
  • Mission: To study dark matter, dark energy and the large-scale structure of the Universe.
• Scientific Significance:
  • Helps study the Epoch of Reionisation, when the first stars and galaxies formed after the cosmic dark ages.
  • Provides clues about the formation and growth of early galaxies and supermassive black holes.
• Cosmic Mystery: These quasars contain billion-solar-mass black holes that formed surprisingly early, challenging existing theories of cosmic evolution