(Phys.org) —The field of view from Earth is being flooded with the brightest display of gamma rays ever seen, the BBC is reporting, at a time when space researchers around the world have just coincidently trained their instruments in the direction from where it's being emitted—the active galaxy Markarian 421.
No one knew that Markarian 421 was about to do anything special or unusual. Recently, a program was started to study the active galaxy as part of a routine inspection. But then, just after telescopes around the world focused their attention on the galaxy, it flared, giving observers a spectacular show. As if that weren't coincidence enough, it also occurred during the annual meeting (April 13 through 16, in Denver, Colorado) of the American Physical Society (APS), which allowed those in attendance to compare notes as the flare-up was occurring.
Markarian 421 is known as a "blazer" galaxy—it's a term used to describe active galaxies with supermassive black holes that emit light across the entire light spectrum in jets that are trillions of times more energetic than the light that can be seen by the human eye—all pointing directly toward our planet. The jets go into overdrive, flaring up, as the black hole consumes matter that is drawn by gravity into their vicinity. Markarian 421 hadn't shown much life since a flare-up back in 1996, thus there was no expectation that anything new was about to happen.
But just as researchers around the world had trained various types of telescopes (from gamma ray to visible light spectrum) at Markarian 421, the blazer began emitting more gamma rays than has ever been witnessed before, giving those at the APS meeting a lot to talk about. The general consensus was that the event was both unprecedented and spectacular, leaving those studying it in awe.
The program to study the active galaxy was aimed at attempting to better understand how such huge amounts of gamma rays can be created by the black holes. To that end, researchers were undertaking a project to study the galaxy across a broad range of light—the flare-up has given those working on the study much more to look at than any of them had imagined.
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Gamma Ray Delay May Be Sign of 'New Physics'
casualjoe
3.8 / 5 (8) Apr 18, 2013hemitite
4.5 / 5 (2) Apr 18, 2013VendicarE
Apr 18, 2013El_Nose
5 / 5 (15) Apr 18, 2013and if you know more info on that event than the authorities I think you should call the FBI as no group has stepped forward
other than that -- get back under your bridge troll
yyz
5 / 5 (9) Apr 18, 2013While these objects do blaze away brilliantly in the night sky (Mkn 421 was the first extragalactic TeV source discovered), the term you're looking for is "blazar": http://en.wikiped...i/Blazar
Aside from being one of the closest and brightest blazars, Mkn 421 is known for its rapid variability and frequent high energy outbursts, such as this one in 2009-2010: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.3850
VendicarE
1.4 / 5 (11) Apr 18, 2013"and if you know more info on that event than the authorities I think" - NoseNothing
Faux News hasn't had much success with it's criminal effort to try and blame Muslims for the crime.
The bombs consisted of 2 lbs of black powder obtained by the Republican Patriots placed in the center of two pressure cookers that had been packed with nails and exploded on Patriot's day in front of the First Republican bank.
They thought that their act would be the opening shot in a new American Revolution against the North.
They forgot that their fellow Republicans are cowards.
alanborky
1.6 / 5 (5) Apr 18, 2013VendicarE you forgot them bungin' Mrs Thatcher in the ground!
VendicarE
2.2 / 5 (13) Apr 18, 2013Husky
5 / 5 (6) Apr 18, 2013VendicarE
2.1 / 5 (7) Apr 18, 2013Sanescience
4.5 / 5 (2) Apr 18, 2013The galaxy is almost 400 million light years away. I hope someone will post what the energy output must be to be that bright from that far away.
VendicarE
2.3 / 5 (3) Apr 18, 2013"I hope someone will post what the energy output must be to be that bright from that far away." - Whomever
The Singularity
3 / 5 (2) Apr 18, 2013Sanescience
not rated yet Apr 18, 2013I don't need precision. A SWAG would be sufficient. At some point in the past they made estimates that suggested that quasars were "brighter than possible", until they settled on the beam hypothesis instead of radiating in all directions.
About 400 light years away.
vidyunmaya
1.3 / 5 (7) Apr 18, 2013A strong source of gamma rays- 397 million light-years.Energy around 250 GEV or more
Change in concepts needed.
Everything cannot be a blackhole ? Where is Wisdom !
antialias_physorg
5 / 5 (7) Apr 19, 2013The enemy on this site is the troll.
Any (and all) of them.
visual
3.7 / 5 (3) Apr 19, 2013Give or take 6 orders of magnitude. Our own galaxy is 100 000 light years in diameter, there certainly can't be another galaxy inside ours.
Wiki puts it at 434 million light years away.
The Singularity
1.3 / 5 (3) Apr 19, 2013Fleetfoot
5 / 5 (4) Apr 19, 2013True, but the act of observing it is in the present.
GSwift7
4 / 5 (4) Apr 19, 2013Now, since your mission is accomplished, get off this site. I'll take care of things from here. I got your back man.
You should probably lay low for a while, just in case THEY decide to make you a target for telling people the truth.
PhotonX
5 / 5 (2) Apr 20, 2013Lurker2358
1.8 / 5 (5) Apr 21, 2013Turns out it actually was muslims.
What does it say about islam, when a person may say, after a terrorist attack, "It was probably muslms," and the majority of the time they will be right...
I think Tamarlan was the one who had the real terrorist contacts. I suspect he recruited his little brother, Dzhokar(sp?), and talked him into it, but I guess all will come out in the trial.
Fortunately for investigators, Dzhokar wore his hat backwards and no sunglasses. This just shows how little thought went into the attack and get away, as he gave away their cover.
I am glad the joint taskforce caught these jerks.
Dzhokar has gotten off easy.
Twin
3 / 5 (6) Apr 21, 2013I once had a comment jerked because I didn't fully express an idea. But, some jerks above flaunt the spectrum of forum rules and are still here.
TheGhostofOtto1923
3 / 5 (2) Apr 21, 2013And all true believers are SUPPOSED to take them literally arent they?
"everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." 2 Chron15:12-13 NAB
"Suppose a man or woman among you...has violated the covenant by serving other gods...that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death." Deut17:2-5
"whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son...evil" john3
-Please remove this shit from your book before you criticize others for following the same orders they find in their books. Thanks.
katesisco
1.8 / 5 (5) Apr 28, 2013Referencing 1997 Markarian 421
This spinning and swallowing process generates enormous amounts of energy in the form of visible light, crackling radio waves, and other types of radiation that can be detected out to the edge of the known universe. Radiation from quasars has been traveling to Earth for billions of years, so we "see" them today as they were when the universe was only a few billion years old, more than 5 billion years before the birth of the sun and Earth.
Neinsense99
4 / 5 (8) Jun 04, 2013Actual enforcement of rules could fix that, to a great degree. If that happened, I'd start browing with my ad blocker off and maybe even consider a donation.
Neinsense99
3.7 / 5 (6) Jun 04, 2013Look out, Vendi, it's the Incredible Tard and you've got him mad!