PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Astronomers have peered deeper than ever into the past and spied the most distant objects ever seen -- two quasars formed when the universe was just 800 million years old.

The announcement Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society marks the fourth time the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has pushed closer to the birth of the universe some 13 billion years ago.

"Our vision has consistently pressed deeper and deeper in time, and now we're within 800 million years," said Donald Schneider of Pennsylvania State University.

Earlier discoveries were about a billion years away from the birth of the universe.

Quasars are galaxies with very active and bright center objects, thought to be powered by black holes. They can shine with the brilliance of a trillion Suns.

The Sloan project, a five-year, $80 million undertaking, seeks to digitally survey the sky, map the universe and define its structure in three dimensions. It uses telescopes atop Apache Point, New Mexico.

Astronomers also heralded the first release of data from the survey Tuesday. The data consist of precision measurements of 14 million objects scattered throughout the universe. Included are more than 13,000 quasars, including 26 of the 30 most distant known.

Astronomers expect to release the full set of data over the next five years. It will be the biggest flood of information in the history of astronomy.

"It will literally be the field guide to the heavens, not only for scientists but for the public," Michael Turner of the University of Chicago said.

About 200 people have collaborated on the private- and public-funded survey.

"I am particularly wowed by the breadth and depth of the tip-of-the-iceberg results we're seeing," said Anneila Sargent, president of the American Astronomical Society, who is not affiliated with the project. "It's going to turn a great number of astronomical theories on their head and confirm others."