New finding on Blazars—the brightest jets in the universe could provide clues to processes close to black holes

Context: The short term optical flux stability detected in some of the brightest jets in the universe could provide clues to the processes close to black holes.

About:

• Blazars are one of the most luminous and energetic objects in the universe powered by material falling onto a super-massive black hole at the center of the host galaxy – the luminosity being because of their a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light towards an observer (the Earth).
• Six scientists spanning over three countries--- India, Serbia, and the USA studied some of the brightest blazers called TeV (Tera-electron Volt) blazars and found that they stand out as a semblance of stability of brightness among the blazar family in the short duration.
• While their brightness varies in the long duration, they maintain their brightness levels in short duration.
• Blazars are among one of the most favourite astronomical transient objects, and their study could provide clues to the processes happening close to the black hole, not visible through direct imaging.
• The scientists, including researchers from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), took 1741 image frames during 2013 – 2019 by using two telescopes, in ARIES, India and two telescopes in Serbia.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1659162