The most scientifically interesting news is the discovery of an active galaxy with massive jets pointed right at us. While that may sound dangerous, this particular object, a blazar named PSO J030947.49+271757.31, is located in the distant universe, and its light has been travelling toward us for some 12 billion years. These kinds of galaxies can only be detected when their jets are pointed in our direction. Statistically, if we find one blazar like this, there are going to be 100 more that are pointed in other directions. This implies there are a bunch of active galaxies already large are churning out star formation just 1 billion years after the universe formed. This object is the most distant source of persistent radio emission so far found. These results are published in the latest issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics and this work was led by Silvia Belladitta.

You’ll often hear us talk about how our stories come from a new article in one journal or another, and we work hard to make sure that we are either putting forward peer-reviewed science, or highlighting an event or pretty picture that may be of interest but doesn’t make science claims that need to be reviewed by peers.

More info:

• It’s happening at LBT
• Blazar da record sotto gli occhi di Lbt (in Italian)