3C 454.3
Encyclopedia
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
/blazar
Blazar
A blazar is a very compact quasar associated with a presumed supermassive black hole at the center of an active, giant elliptical galaxy...
located off the galactic plane. It lies some 7.1 billion light-years away in Pegasus and is currently undergoing a flaring episode that makes it especially bright, especially in the gamma-ray part of the spectrum
Spectrum
A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...
.
History
In July and August 2007, the gamma-ray blazar 3C 454.3 flared to near-historic levels, only two years after its record-breaking 2005 optical flare. Luckily, Spitzer Space TelescopeSpitzer Space Telescope
The Spitzer Space Telescope , formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility is an infrared space observatory launched in 2003...
and Chandra X-ray Observatory were already scheduled for simultaneous observations. Swift, RXTE and the new gamma-ray AGILE spacecraft responded to this target of opportunity, and were joined by observatories around the world.
The GLAST
GLAST
GLAST may refer to:* Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope* GLutamate ASpartate Transporter...
Large Area Telescope AGN
Active galactic nucleus
An active galactic nucleus is a compact region at the centre of a galaxy that has a much higher than normal luminosity over at least some portion, and possibly all, of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such excess emission has been observed in the radio, infrared, optical, ultra-violet, X-ray and...
science group started a multiwavelength campaign for blazar 3C454.3 (2251+158), in July and continuing through August 2007. This Ad-Hoc Intensive Campaign (AIC) was prompted by brightening in the radio, optical and X-ray.
