November 2, 2024

Breaking Astrophysical Boundaries: LST-1 Discovers Most Distant High-Energy AGN

Credit: SciTechDaily.comLST-1s discovery of the distant quasar OP 313 at high energies marks a turning point in astronomy, highlighting the telescopes sophisticated capabilities in exploring the farthest reaches of the universe.On December 15, the Large-Sized Telescope (LST) Collaboration announced through an Astronomers Telegram (ATel) the detection of the source OP 313 at really high energies with the LST-1. With just 4 days of information, the LST Collaboration was able to find the source above 100 Gigaelectronvolts (GeV), an energy level a billion times greater than the noticeable light humans can perceive.Challenges in Detecting Distant QuasarsOnly 9 quasars are understood at very high energies, and OP 313 is now the tenth. In this case, OP 313 is located at a redshift of 0.997 or ~ 8 billion light years away, making it the most distant AGN and the second most far-off source ever identified at very high energies.The more remote the source, the more challenging it is to observe at extremely high energies due to the so-called Extragalactic Background Light or EBL.