Indian Astronomers Detect Strongest Flares From Blackhole

Indian astronomer Dr Alok Gupta, along with his team at the Aryabhatta Research Institute Of Observational Sciences (ARIES), have reported one of the strongest flares from a feeding supermassive black hole or blazar called BL Lacertae. Blazars are among the brightest and oldest entities in the universe and are known to emit jets of charged particles travelling nearly at light-speed. Reportedly, the discovered blazar is situated 10 million light-years away from the Earth. Gupta and team were onto the Lacertae since October 2020. The exceptionally high flare was detected on January 16, 2021, jointly through Nainital-based Sampurnanand Telescope and 1.3m Devasthal Fast Optical telescopes. Meanwhile, the data extracted from BL Lacertae's flare holds potential to determine the black hole's mass, size, and mechanism of its emission and ultimately origin and evolution of the universe.