Search & fact check with cited sources for What new discoveries about ancient quasars did the Euclid space telescope announce on July 6, 2026, including details about the two oldest quasars ever found, how many total quasars were discovered, their redshifts and distances, what ep

I searched extensively for a July 6, 2026 Euclid announcement about ancient quasars, including the "two oldest quasars ever found," but no such announcement is present in the public web record as of today (July 6, 2026). Here is what the available evidence shows:

What Euclid has released on quasars

• Quick Data Release 1 (Q1) — Published March–June 2026, Euclid released its first batch of survey data covering 63 square degrees of sky (0.45% of its nominal survey). This dataset includes thousands of new quasar and AGN candidates identified using AI algorithms, with unprecedented positional accuracy, and has enabled statistical confirmation of how galaxy mergers drive AGN activity .
• Deep field preview (March 2025 / June 2026) — ESA described that Euclid's deep fields contain a "small population of bright quasars that can be seen much farther away" and that the mission expects to capture some 7,000 candidate quasars overall .
• Spectroscopy paper (arXiv 2512.08803) — A dedicated Euclid spectroscopy paper identifies and determines redshifts for 3,500 bright quasars .
• Red quasars selection paper (arXiv 2503.15319) — This study showcases Euclid's near-infrared photometry for finding large samples of red quasars and even reveals a candidate dual quasar system .

Findings that predate or do not come from Euclid

• The farthest known quasar as of mid-2026 remains UHZ1 at redshift z ~ 10.1 (seen ~13.2 billion light-years away, about 400 million years after the Big Bang), discovered by other observatories .
• The oldest known supermassive black hole (from quasar J0313-1806 at z = 7.64, ~670 million years after the Big Bang) was discovered in 2021 .
• The earliest known flickering quasar was announced by MIT on June 8, 2026 — traced to just 850 million years after the Big Bang — but this was not a Euclid discovery .

Key caveat

Euclid's first cosmology data is scheduled for public release in October 2026 . Any major quasar discovery involving the "two oldest quasars ever found" with specific redshift/distance details would most likely be announced at or after that data release. No press release, ESA announcement, or news article from July 6, 2026 matching the specific claim you asked about could be found.

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