NASA’s IXPE Stuns Astronomers With New Blazar Discovery
The universe is teeming with powerful supermassive black holes that spawn powerful jets of high-energy particles, creating sources of extreme brightness in the vastness of…
Blazars News
Blazars are a very energetic type of active galactic nucleus (AGN), characterized by their intense emissions and rapid variability across the electromagnetic spectrum. These phenomena are powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies, which accrete matter and generate powerful jets of charged particles that travel at nearly the speed of light. What distinguishes blazars from other types of AGNs is that one of these jets is pointed almost directly towards Earth, resulting in a beam of radiation that appears extremely bright due to the relativistic effects of the jet’s high velocity. Blazars are known for their dramatic variability, often changing brightness over timescales ranging from minutes to years. They are also significant sources of gamma rays and are key objects of study in high-energy astrophysics, helping scientists probe the properties of relativistic jets and the environments around black holes.
Shining Light on Cosmic Secrets: Scientists Test a Controversial Theory of Blazar Emissions
Penn State researchers have recently characterized over a hundred blazars – far-off, dynamic galaxies hosting a central supermassive black hole that propels potent jets –…
Astronomers Discover a “Changing-Look” Blazar – A Powerful Active Galactic Nucleus
A University of Oklahoma doctoral student, graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and an associate professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy…
A Blazar in the Early Universe: Details Revealed in Galaxy’s Jet 12.8 Billion Light-Years From Earth
The supersharp radio “vision” of the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) has revealed previously unseen details in a jet of material ejected…
Astronomers Discover First BL Lacertae Galaxy at Cosmic Dawn: The Farthest Black Hole From a Rare Family of Galaxies
An international team of astronomers has identified the farthest example of a rare class of gamma-ray emitting galaxies. The so-called BL Lacertae object was discovered…
“Ghostly Particle” is Confirmed to Have Originated From a Blazar
The “ghostly particle” is confirmed to have originated from a blazar, nearly 4 billion light years from Earth. For the first time, scientists from around…
VERITAS Confirms Neutrino Emission from Vicinity of Blazar TXS 0506+056
The VERITAS array has confirmed the detection of gamma rays from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. While these detections are relatively common for…
Astronomers Unravel Long-Standing Cosmic Mystery
Astronomers and physicists around the world, including in Hawaii, have begun to unravel a long-standing cosmic mystery. Using a vast array of telescopes in space…
Fermi Reveals the Most Extreme Blazars to Date
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars to date, a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered by supersized black…
Radio Weak Blazars Challenge the Basic Explanation of Blazars
Using the Fermi catalog of very high energy sources and the WISE infrared sky catalog, astronomers have found two BL Lac blazars with no apparent…
NASA Telescopes Reveal a Surprising Blazar Connection
Using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers studying distant galaxies powered by monster black holes have uncovered…
Fermi Helps Link Cosmic Neutrino to Blazar Blast
Nearly 10 billion years ago, the black hole at the center of a galaxy known as PKS B1424-418 produced a powerful outburst. Light from this…
VERITAS Detects Gamma Rays from Distant Galaxy PKS 1441+25
Using the VERITAS array, astronomers have detected gamma rays from a blazar known as PKS 1441+25. The research shows that the source of the gamma…
Fermi Mission Reveals Hints of Gamma-Ray Cycle in Active Galaxy PG 1553+113
Using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered hints of periodic changes in brightness in blazar PG 1553+113, whose emissions are…
Fermi Views Blazar 3C 279’s Record Gamma-Ray Flare
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other satellites have recorded a record flare from a black hole at the center of the distant galaxy 3C…
Fermi Reveals Gamma-Ray Variability of Thirteen Blazars
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used Fermi to monitor the gamma-ray variability of thirteen blazars, finding evidence that the emission arises in several…
Fermi Reveals Distinctive Properties of Blazars
A team of astronomers has used Fermi data to reveal how blazars are distributed throughout the universe and to show the distinctive properties that define…
Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Where Gamma Rays Originate
An international team of astronomers has for the first time confirmed a link between the gamma bursts and their counterparts in several radio frequencies, solving…