Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Blazar 3C 454-3: Brightest Gamma Ray Source in the sky

Unprecedented flares from the blazar 3C 454.3 in the constellation Pegasus now make it the brightest persistent gamma-ray source in the sky.
That title usually goes to the Vela pulsar in our galaxy, which is millions of times closer.
These all-sky images, which show the numbers of high-energy gamma-rays captured by Fermi's Large Area Telescope on December 3 and November 18, clearly show the change. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

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