Blazars

A blazar is a quasar with its jet pointed straight at us. As we look down the jet we see tremendous bursts of energy (like a flickering flashlight aimed straight in the eyes).

"Viscious Little Dots"

Blazars are enigmatic objects. They are variable on all time scales from seconds to years. There has been no discovered periodicity in blazars. Even their classification is not yet firmly defined. Most blazars are also called "BL Lac objects", but not all!

They are some of the most energetic events in the Universe. They are so bright and so far away that we are looking at light that is billions of years old. One of the unique aspects of blazars is that they emit energy all across the spectrum so they are one of the few objects that astronomers can study at all wavelengths at the same time.

The AAVSO has teamed up with the GLAST Telescope Network (GTN) to monitor blazars in support of the upcoming GLAST mission. Long term monitoring will begin immediately to setup a baseline of data. Then when GLAST is launched we will continue to monitor to notify GLAST of flares and also coordinate observations with GLAST for multiwavelength correlation.

Both visual and CCD observations are needed!

Over the next year (2003) the network will be setup. An alert system similar to the GRB network will be established, new charts made, and some other blazar-specific tools will be developed for the web site. Until then, get started by observing BL Lac, W Com, Mark 421 and PKS0716.

Quasars: matter falling into a massive black hole forms an accretion disk in the shape of a torus. In the center a jet of material shoots upward.	If the quasar is oriented so the jet is pointed toward earth, we see a bright source of energy: a blazar!.
IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/Honeywell Max Q Digital Group, Dana Berry

More Information

• GTN the GLAST Telescope Network and their resources page
• Blazar & GTN Presentation HTML version of talk given at the 91st Spring Meeting by Dr. Gordon Spear.
• GTN Presentation about AGN variability & blazars
• BL Lac Variable Star of the Month article
• AAVSO member Bruce Gary is keeping a page about amateur observations of blazars.
• AAVSO High Energy Network Presentation: Presented at the 92nd Spring Meeting with a section on blazars, in PowerPoint or Quick Time (6MB each)
• PDF poster paper on the AAVSO High Energy Network and Blazars