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Scientists Discover 77 Rare Red Quasars Hidden Behind Cosmic Dust

Scientists Discover 77 Rare Red Quasars Hidden Behind Cosmic Dust

Astronomers have identified 77 rare “red quasars” hidden behind thick cosmic dust using NASA’s SPHEREx telescope. The discoveries support theories that galaxy collisions trigger rapid black hole growth and intense star formation.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 25 May 2026 20:18 IST

Scientists Discover 77 Rare Red Quasars Hidden Behind Cosmic Dust

Photo Credit: S. Munro

Artist's impression of red and blue quasars.

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Highlights

Scientists discovered 77 rare dust-hidden red quasars in deep space
Galaxy collisions may trigger rapid supermassive black hole growth
SPHEREx observations revealed quasars dispersing dust at high speeds

In the center of many large galaxies lies a supermassive black hole. If such black holes start accreting matter, then they form quasars, some of the most luminous celestial bodies in the cosmos. However, there are some quasars whose light gets obscured by the dust and which appear faint and red. Scientists have discovered 77 such "red quasars" recently, proving that they are in fact an important stage of galaxy development.

When Galaxies Collide

The current galaxy evolution theory states that galaxy mergers trigger a chain reaction process in the universe. The gas clouds run to the center of these galaxies during the collision of galaxies, and in the process, additional stars and even the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy are formed. A black hole is formed behind a curtain of gas and dust, which leads to the rapid growth of the black hole and the formation of a reddened quasar in the optical bands. Its occurrence had long been rumoured for many years, but its discovery was extremely difficult.

Nasa Discussion

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Cosmic Winds and a Clean Sweep

Observations with the NASA space-based telescope SPHEREX have led to the discovery of another 77 examples of quasars with high redshift, indicating that they originated billions of years ago when the universe was at its peak activity in terms of star formation. Crucially, these objects are those that shine very brightly with light but poorly with hot dust; thus, they must be dispersing the hot dust surrounding them. Scientists had already found compelling evidence of molecular gas flows at 500 km/sec to 1,000 km/sec in reddened quasars.

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