A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet (a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light) directed towards an observer.

Blazars are powerful sources of emission across the electromagnetic spectrum and are observed to be sources of high-energy gamma ray photons.

Blazars are highly variable sources, often undergoing rapid and dramatic fluctuations in brightness on short timescales (hours to days).

In 2009, a team of astronomers using the Swift spacecraft used the luminosity of S5 0014+81 to measure the mass of its super-massive black hole. They found it to be about 10,000 times more massive than the black hole at the center of our galaxy, or equivalent to 40 billion solar masses

  • LanternEverywhere
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    511 year ago

    Literally inconceivable. Our minds aren’t capable of really grasping what that size is like.

    • Flying Squid
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      201 year ago

      “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

      – Douglas Adams

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      Reminds me of the discussion between the gunslinger and the man in black in ‘the dark tower’

      • @Cornfed
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        31 year ago

        You say true, I say thank you.