Using NASA's Neil Gherels Swift Observatory, Indian astronomers have observed a blazar known as OJ 287. Results of the observational campaign, published May 25 on the arXiv pre-print server, shed more light on the spectral ...
Using NASA's Swift observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, Indian astronomers have inspected a prominent high synchrotron peaked blazar known as 1ES 1959+650. Results of the study, published May 5 on the arXiv pre-print ...
Indian astronomers have analyzed observational data of a gamma-ray blazar known as PKS 0402-362, collected in the timespan of nearly 13 years. The study, published March 7 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical ...
An international team of astronomers has conducted a long-term multi-frequency radio monitoring of a nearby blazar known as OJ 287. Results of the observational campaign, published February 22 on the pre-print server arXiv, ...
Using three space telescopes, Armenian astronomers have observed a flaring high-redshift blazar known as PKS 0537-286. Results of the observational campaign, presented February 15 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver important ...
An international team of astronomers has performed a comprehensive, multiwavelength study of a blazar known as 1ES 1218+304. Results of the research, presented in a paper published January 3 on the arXiv preprint server, ...
By analyzing the data from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, astronomers from the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and elsewhere, have investigated X-ray intraday variability of a nearby ...
By analyzing the historical light curve of blazar PKS 0405-385 from NASA's Fermi spacecraft, Chinese astronomers have detected quasi-periodic oscillation from this source. The discovery, presented in a paper published May ...
Using various space and ground-based observatories, astronomers have inspected flaring activity observed on a blazar known as S5 1803+78. Results of this multi-wavelength study, published April 10 on the arXiv pre-print server, ...
Using NASA's Fermi spacecraft, researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, India, have conducted a gamma-ray flux and spectral variability study of a blazar known as Ton 599, during its recent flaring ...
A blazar (blazing quasi-stellar object) is a very compact quasar (quasi-stellar object) associated with a presumed supermassive black hole at the center of an active, giant elliptical galaxy. Blazars are among the most energetic phenomena in the universe and are an important topic in extragalactic astronomy.
Blazars are members of a larger group of active galaxies that host active galactic nuclei (AGN). A few rare objects may be "intermediate blazars" that appear to have a mixture of properties from both optically violent variable (OVV) quasars and BL Lac objects. The name "blazar" was originally coined in 1978 by astronomer Edward Spiegel to denote the combination of these two classes.
Blazars are AGN with a relativistic jet that is pointing in the general direction of the Earth. We observe "down" the jet, or nearly so, and this accounts for the rapid variability and compact features of both types of blazars. Many blazars have apparent superluminal features within the first few parsecs of their jets, probably due to relativistic shock fronts.
The generally accepted picture is that OVV quasars are intrinsically powerful radio galaxies while BL Lac objects are intrinsically weak radio galaxies. In both cases the host galaxies are giant ellipticals.
Alternative models, for example, gravitational microlensing, may account for a few observations of some blazars which are not consistent with the general properties.
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