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Blazer Markarian 421 Fires-up on Cue


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As I write this, the blazer Markarian 421 is flaring, making it the brightest gamma-ray source ever detected; looks like the supermassive black hole at it's centre is consuming a particularly tasty meal. By an amazing coincidence, a programme of study had just begun, so dozens of telescopes have caught the event, across all frequencies. Should result in some good data!

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I'd love to know what it's munching on... :smiley:

It would certainly be interesting to have a clear uninterrupted view of such an event actually happening and that could be viewed in a telescope. I know this one is too far away, but if only we could see what is going on in the centre of the Milky Way.

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It would certainly be interesting to have a clear uninterrupted view of such an event actually happening and that could be viewed in a telescope. I know this one is too far away, but if only we could see what is going on in the centre of the Milky Way.

To a certain extent, this one is not too far away. Even when not blazing, it is visible in an 8" instrument (easily). I know that Blazar OJ287 in Cancer is variable in the visible spectrum (I spotted it near maximum (mag 13.9)).

I am also not sure that I would want one anywhere nearby. I worked out that even the "sedate" quasar 3C273 would be brighter than Jupiter if placed at the core of the Andromeda Galaxy. Put Mrk421 at the centre of our own galaxy and it would be a mag -7.3 object (ignoring extinction by dust) even without its current outburst. The amount of gamma rays might become uncomfortable here on earth.

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I think the main reason it's so bright from Earth is that the jets are pointing right at us.

Fortunately the jeta of our Black Hole are up-and-down so we might get away with it.

In the 3.8 Billion Years that life's been going, I'm sure our hole has flared more than once.

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