Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish", in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fish. Before the 20th century, it was also known as Piscis Notius. Piscis Austrinus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. The stars of the modern constellation Grus once formed the "tail" of Piscis Austrinus. In 1597, Petrus Plancius carved out a separate constellation and named it after the crane.
Serpens is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union. It is unique among the modern constellations in being split into two non-contiguous parts, Serpens Caput to the west and Serpens Cauda to the east. Between these two halves lies the constellation of Ophiuchus, the "Serpent-Bearer". In figurative representations, the body of the serpent is represented as passing behind Ophiuchus between Mu Serpentis in Serpens Caput and Nu Serpentis in Serpens Cauda.
Messier 87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo that contains several trillion stars. One of the largest and most massive galaxies in the local universe, it has a large population of globular clusters—about 15,000 compared with the 150–200 orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the core and extends at least 1,500 parsecs, traveling at a relativistic speed. It is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky and a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers.
A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the jet makes blazars appear much brighter than they would be if the jet were pointed in a direction away from Earth. Blazars are powerful sources of emission across the electromagnetic spectrum and are observed to be sources of high-energy gamma ray photons. Blazars are highly variable sources, often undergoing rapid and dramatic fluctuations in brightness on short timescales. Some blazar jets appear to exhibit superluminal motion, another consequence of material in the jet traveling toward the observer at nearly the speed of light.
A BL Lacertae object or BL Lac object is a type of active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a galaxy with such an AGN, named after its prototype, BL Lacertae. In contrast to other types of active galactic nuclei, BL Lacs are characterized by rapid and large-amplitude flux variability and significant optical polarization. Because of these properties, the prototype of the class was originally thought to be a variable star. When compared to the more luminous active nuclei (quasars) with strong emission lines, BL Lac objects have spectra dominated by a relatively featureless non-thermal emission continuum over the entire electromagnetic range. This lack of spectral lines historically hindered identification of the nature and distance of such objects.
The Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) is an international consortium of astronomers created in 1997, with the aim to study a particular category of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) called blazars, which are characterized by strong and fast brightness variability, on time scales down to hours or less.
Markarian 501 is a galaxy with a spectrum extending to the highest energy gamma rays. It is a blazar or BL Lac object, which is an active galactic nucleus with a jet that is shooting towards the Earth. The object has a redshift of z = 0.034.
TXS 0506+056 is a very high energy blazar – a quasar with a relativistic jet pointing directly towards Earth – of BL Lac-type. With a redshift of 0.3365 ± 0.0010, it has a luminosity distance of about 1.75 gigaparsecs. Its approximate location on the sky is off the left shoulder of the constellation Orion. Discovered as a radio source in 1983, the blazar has since been observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda and was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786. It is classified as a cD galaxy and is the brightest member of Abell 262. NGC 708 is a weak FR I radio galaxy and is also classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.
1ES 2344+514 is a blazar first detected on December 20, 1995 with its official discovery being announced in 1998. It is more than 5 billion light years away from Earth. It was discovered by the Whipple Collaboration at the Whipple Observatory using a 10 meter gamma-ray telescope.
AP Librae is a BL Lacertae object located at a distance of 700 million light years in the southern constellation of Libra. In the visual band it is one of the most active blazars known. AP Lib is surrounded by an extended source with a spectrum characteristic of a red-shifted giant elliptical galaxy. The derived visual magnitude of this region is 15.0, and it follows a radially decreasing brightness that is characteristic of an elliptical. Seven fainter galaxies are visible within an angular radius of 9′, suggesting it is the brightest member of a galactic cluster.
IC 310 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Perseus. It is located 265 million light-years from Earth, which means, given its apparent dimensions, it is about 117,000 light-years across. The galaxy was discovered by Edward D. Swift on November 3, 1888.
4C +71.07 known as S5 0836+71, is a quasar located in the constellation Ursa Major. Based on its high redshift, the object is located 10.7 billion light-years away from Earth and such, classified as a blazar with a flat-spectrum radio source and features a radio jet.
PKS 0537-286, also known as QSO B0537-286, is a quasar located in the constellation Columba. With a redshift of 3.104, the object is located 11.4 billion light years away and belongs to the flat spectrum radio quasar blazar subclass (FSQR). It is one of the most luminous known high-redshift quasars.
PKS 0438-436, also known as PKS J0440-4333, is a quasar located in constellation Caelum. With a high redshift of 2.86, the object is located 11.2 billion light-years from Earth and is classified as a blazar due to its flat-spectrum radio source, (in terms of the flux density as with α < 0.5 and its optical polarization.
PKS 0226-559 known as PMN J0228-5546 is a quasar located in the constellation Horologium. At the redshift of 2.464, the object is roughly 10.6 billion light-years from Earth.
PKS 1144-379 also known as PKS B1144-379, is a quasar located in the constellation of Centaurus. At the redshift of 1.048, the object is located nearly 8 billion light-years from Earth.
PKS 1402-012, also known as UM 632, is a quasar located in the constellation of Virgo. With a redshift of 2.51, the object is located 10.7 billion light-years from Earth.
PKS 1402+044 is a quasar located in the constellation of Virgo. It has a redshift of 3.207, estimating the object to be located 11.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
PKS 0805-07 also known as PMN J0808-0751 and 4FGL J0808.2-0751, is a quasar located in the constellation of Monoceros. With a redshift of 1.83, light has taken at least 10 billion light-years to reach Earth.
