What in the blazes is a ‘blazar’ and should we be worried that the oldest and biggest one in the universe is pointed directly at Earth? The variable jet turns out to be pointed right at Earth, and thus "blazingly" bright. There's no danger to us; the nearest galaxy with a supermassive black hole is 2 million light years away. The Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) is an international consortium of astronomers created in 1997, with the aim to study a particular category of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) called blazars, which are characterized by strong and fast brightness variability, on time scales down to hours or less. 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 very nearly towards an observer.Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the jet makes blazars appear much brighter than they would be if the jet were pointed in a direction away from Earth…

Scientists have discovered the world’s most distant and oldest blazar with its beam of radiation aimed directly at Earth. Thanks to a … It is most probable that for each blazar (AGN visible from Earth) there are hundreds of equally strong AGNs that are pointed elsewhere, which means we simply can’t spot them (for now). This image from NASA's WISE spacecraft shows a blazar, a voracious supermassive black hole inside a galaxy with a jet that happens to be pointed right toward Earth. “We present the discovery of PSO J030947.49+271757.31, the radio brightest (23.7 The black hole, known as a ‘blazar’ is thought to … These objects are rare and hard to find, but astronomers have discovered that they can use the WISE all-sky infrared images to uncover new ones. By Sean Martin PUBLISHED: 08:08, Sat, Mar 14, 2020 Astronomers Discover Supermassive Black Hole ‘Blazar’ Pointed Directly at Earth Astronomers have discovered the existence of a supermassive black hole that looks to be the oldest and most distant of its kind we've ever encountered – and it just happens to be aiming its bright particle beam directly at Earth. But when a galaxy happens to be oriented so the jets point toward Earth — and we’re staring right down the barrel of the gun, as it were — it’s called a blazar. In 2009, Fermi, which detected a large number of blazars during it first year of operation, observed a blazar, PKS 2155-304. It’s the same thing as a quasar, just pointed at a different angle.

ASTRONOMERS have detected an ancient supermassive black hole which has a particle beam that is pointed DIRECTLY at Earth. But when a galaxy happens to be oriented so the jets point toward Earth — and we’re staring right down the barrel of the gun, as it were — it’s called a blazar. The blazar jet points almost directly at Earth and it fires powerful bursts of radiation that last for several days and occur about once or twice a year.

In this case, one of those beams is pointed directly at Earth, like a flashlight. While that may sound dangerous, this particular object, a blazar named PSO J030947.49+271757.31, is located in the distant universe, and its light has been travelling toward us for some 12 billion years. Left: When a supermassive black hole starts to devour the galaxy around it, jets of high-energy radiation can shoot straight toward Earth, creating a "blazar." A blazar is kind a specific kind of quasar whose jets are pointed directly at Earth. The blazar is called TXS 0506+056, and it appears in the sky just below the arm of the constellation Orion. Astronomers have discovered the existence of a supermassive black hole that looks to be the oldest and most distant of its kind we've ever encountered – and it just happens to be aiming its bright particle beam directly at Earth. According to researchers from the University of Insurbia, Italy the blazar called PSO J030947.49+271757.31 is located in a galaxy 13 billion years away from the Earth and it could possibly reveal details about the early evolution of the Universe and ancient black holes. Active black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies. An ancient black hole believed to be as heavy as billion suns is pointing right at Earth. This image taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) shows a blazar -- a voracious supermassive black hole inside a galaxy with a jet that happens to be pointed right toward Earth. The most scientifically interesting news is the discovery of an active galaxy with massive jets pointed right at us.