blazar

American  

[blayz-ahr] / ˈbleɪz ɑr /

noun

plural

blazars

1. Astronomy. a type of active galactic nucleus having an extremely bright appearance because of massive jets of radiation directed toward the earth from the disk of dust and gas circling the black hole associated with the galactic nucleus.

---

blazar Scientific  

/ blā′zär′ /

1. An extremely bright, starlike object characterized by rapid changes in luminosity and a flat spectrum. Originally thought to be ordinary irregular variable stars, their spectral properties now lead astronomers to consider blazars as a class of active galactic nuclei. Blazars emit radiation over a very wide range of frequencies, from radio to gamma rays, with their jets pointed at the observer. This orientation accounts for their peculiar properties, specifically the variability and intensity of their brightness, and it also distinguishes blazars from another class of active galactic nucleus, quasars.

---

Other Word Forms

• blazar-like adjective
• non-blazar adjective

Example Sentences

However, the relationship between blazar flaring activity and neutrino flux is yet to be properly understood.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2023

The jets from this blazar extend to a distance of about a million light years.

From Reuters • Nov. 23, 2022

It’s a similar process to what powers a blazar, but lasts just a few months.

From Science Magazine • Feb. 22, 2021

On September 22, 2017, IceCube, a neutrino detector comprising 5,160 sensors embedded within one cubic kilometer of ice below the South Pole, detected neutrinos from a blazar.

From Scientific American • Aug. 21, 2019

This type of galaxy is called a blazar.

From BBC • Dec. 25, 2018