BL Lacertae objects
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BL Lacertae objects
[¦bē¦el lə′ser·tē ‚äb·jiks] (astronomy)
A class of extragalactic sources of extremely intense, highly variable electromagnetic radiation which are related to quasars but have a featureless optical spectrum, and display strong optical polarization and a radio spectrum that increases in intensity at shorter wavelengths.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
Nesci, "Spectral slope variability of BL Lacertae objects in the optical band," The Astrophysical Journal, vol.
Fu, "The optical microvariability and spectral changes of the BL Lacertae object S5 0716+714," The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, vol.
The passage of stars across the line of sight to the quasar could account for the rapid brightness changes typically associated with
BL Lacertae objects.
Beyond our galaxy, at a distance of more than a billion light-years, the
BL Lacertae object PKS 2155-304 radiates profusely across the spectrum from the visible to hard X-rays.
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