blazar – Astronomy Now

Astronomers trace cosmic ray neutrino back to remote blazar

13 July 2018 Astronomy Now

For the first time, a ghostly neutrino detected at the IceCube observatory in Antarctica has been traced back to its source, a super-massive black hole in a “blazar” galaxy four billion light years away.

Astronomers measure and model a blazing gamma-ray source

6 June 2016 Astronomy Now

A blazar is a galaxy whose central supermassive black hole emits a powerful jet of high velocity particles aimed almost directly at Earth. Astronomers have measured and successfully modelled the very high energy gamma ray emission from a blazar known as 1ES 1741+196 using VERITAS, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System.

Gamma rays from distant blazar galaxy tell story of an epic escape

16 December 2015 Astronomy Now

In April 2015, after travelling for about half the age of the universe, a flood of powerful gamma rays from a distant galaxy slammed into Earth’s atmosphere. Observations of PKS 1441+25, a rare type of galaxy called a blazar, provide a look into the environment near a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s centre and offer a glimpse into the state of the cosmos 7 billion years ago.

NASA’s Fermi finds hints of gamma-ray cycle in active galaxy

14 November 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected hints of periodic changes in the brightness of a so-called “active” galaxy, whose emissions are powered by a supersized black hole. If confirmed, the discovery would mark the first years-long cyclic gamma-ray emission ever detected from any galaxy, which could provide new insights into physical processes near the black hole.