A cosmic jet aimed at Earth reveals how blazars hurl particles to extreme energies, solving…
Browsing: Blazars
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.
Astronomers using NASA’s IXPE satellite have finally cracked a cosmic mystery—how X-rays are produced in…
BL Lacertae, an enigmatic blazar, has shattered long-held classification norms, leaving astronomers baffled. Originally mistaken…
Astronomers have spotted a young, blazing black hole that was already growing at a furious…
The universe is teeming with powerful supermassive black holes that spawn powerful jets of high-energy…
New research on 106 dim blazars confirmed the blazar sequence theory, refining our understanding of…
A University of Oklahoma doctoral student, graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and an associate professor…
The supersharp radio “vision” of the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) has…
An international team of astronomers has identified the farthest example of a rare class of…
The “ghostly particle” is confirmed to have originated from a blazar, nearly 4 billion light…
The VERITAS array has confirmed the detection of gamma rays from the vicinity of a…
Astronomers and physicists around the world, including in Hawaii, have begun to unravel a long-standing…
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars to date, a type…
Using the Fermi catalog of very high energy sources and the WISE infrared sky catalog,…
Using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers…
Nearly 10 billion years ago, the black hole at the center of a galaxy known…
Using the VERITAS array, astronomers have detected gamma rays from a blazar known as PKS…
Using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered hints of periodic…