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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Active Galactic Nuclei

-->Active galactic nuclei are cores of galaxies that produce more radiation than the rest of the galaxy.

 They produce so much radiation that they are studied at all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers typically study them at all energies because they change their behavior constantly. Gamma-ray and X-ray are the most studied bands when it comes to active galactic nuclei because high-energy active galactic nuclei emit most of their power at high energies. The study of X-ray emission is very important because X-ray emission can provide scientists with information about the physical processes occurring in the active galactic nuclei. Gamma-ray emission is important because it gives astronomers information on material that ejects from active galactic nuclei.

Quasar:



Blazar:

 Seyfret:




Blazars, quasars, and Seyferts are some of the different types of active galactic nuclei. Many astronomers believe that although these active galactic nuclei look different to us, they are actually all the same when viewed in different directions. The most studied type of active galactic nuclei are quasars. Quasars are extremely far away from us, some have been seen as far as 12 billion light-years away. Blazars appear to be extremely bright in the radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Seyfrets are the closest active galactic nuclei to our galaxy.

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