Markarian 421

Markarian 421
Markarian 421
	Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of Mrk 421
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation	Ursa Major
Right ascension	11h 04m 27.314s
Declination	+38° 12′ 31.80″
Redshift	0.030021
Distance	397-434 million light-years; (122-133 Mpc)
Type	BL LAC
Apparent magnitude (V)	12.9 (SIMBAD); 13.3 (NED); 11.6-16 (B Band)
Other designations
	B2 1101+38, UGC 6132, PGC 33452, 2E 2393, QSO B1101+384, Mark 421
	See also: Quasar, List of quasars

Markarian 421 (Mrk 421, Mkn 421) is a blazar located in the constellation Ursa Major. The object is an active galaxy and a BL Lacertae object, and is a strong source of gamma rays. It is about 397 million light-years (redshift: z=0.0308 eq. 122Mpc)^[2] to 434 million light-years (133Mpc)^[3] from the Earth. It is one of the closest blazars to Earth, making it one of the brightest quasars in the night sky. It is suspected to have a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at its center due to its active nature. An early-type high inclination spiral galaxy (Markarian 421-5) is located 14 arc-seconds northeast of Markarian 421.

It was first determined to be a very high energy gamma ray emitter in 1992 by M. Punch at the Whipple Observatory,^[5] and an extremely rapid outburst in very-high-energy gamma rays (15-minute rise-time) was measured in 1996 by J. Gaidos at Whipple Observatory ^[6]

Markarian 421 also had an outburst in 2001 and is monitored by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope project.^[7]

Due to its brightness (around 13.3 magnitude, max. 11.6 mag. and min. 16 mag.) the object can also be viewed by amateurs in smaller telescopes.

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Mrk 421". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for MRK 0421. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
^ ^a ^b "Distance Results for MRK 0421". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "Variable Star Of The Season AAVSO. Winter 2004: Markarian 421". AAVSO. December 28, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
^ Punch, M.; Akerlof, Carl W.; Cawley, M. F.; Chantell, M.; Fegan, D. J.; Fennell, S.; Gaidos, J. A.; Hagan, J.; Hillas, A. M.; Jiang, Y.; Kerrick, A. D.; Lamb, R. C.; Lawrence, M. A.; Lewis, D. A.; Meyer, D. I.; Mohanty, G.; Oflaherty, K. S.; Reynolds, P. T.; Rovero, A. C.; Schubnell, Michael; Sembroski, G. H.; Weekes, T. C.; Whitaker, T.; Wilson, C. (6 August 1992). "Detection Of Tev Photons From The Active Galaxy Markarian 421, Nature, Volume 358, Issue 6386, pp 477-478 (Aug. 6, 1992)". Nature. Bibcode:1992Natur.358..477P. doi:10.1038/358477a0. hdl:2027.42/62745. S2CID 4349393.
^ "Extremely rapid bursts of TeV photons from the active galaxy Markarian 421, Nature, Volume 383, Issue 6598, pp. 319-320 (1996)" (PDF). Bibcode:1996Natur.383..319G. doi:10.1038/383319a0. S2CID 4327435. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Sillanpää, A.; Takalo, L. O.; Webt Collaboration (2001). "Optical monitoring of the blazar Mk421 during the TeV outburst". International Cosmic Ray Conference. 7: 2699. Bibcode:2001ICRC....7.2699S.

External links[]

Markarian 421 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
Focus on Markarian 421
Gokus, Andrea; et al. (2021). "Multi-wavelength study of MRK 421 during a TeV flare". Proceedings of 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2021). p. 869. doi:10.22323/1.395.0869.

Coordinates: 11^h 04^m 27^s, +38° 12′ 32″

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[SIMBAD-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Mrk 421". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Retrieved 2010-04-12.

[ned-2] "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for MRK 0421. Retrieved 2010-04-12.

[ned-dist-3] "Distance Results for MRK 0421". NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[AAVSO2004-4] "Variable Star Of The Season AAVSO. Winter 2004: Markarian 421". AAVSO. December 28, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

[5] Punch, M.; Akerlof, Carl W.; Cawley, M. F.; Chantell, M.; Fegan, D. J.; Fennell, S.; Gaidos, J. A.; Hagan, J.; Hillas, A. M.; Jiang, Y.; Kerrick, A. D.; Lamb, R. C.; Lawrence, M. A.; Lewis, D. A.; Meyer, D. I.; Mohanty, G.; Oflaherty, K. S.; Reynolds, P. T.; Rovero, A. C.; Schubnell, Michael; Sembroski, G. H.; Weekes, T. C.; Whitaker, T.; Wilson, C. (6 August 1992). "Detection Of Tev Photons From The Active Galaxy Markarian 421, Nature, Volume 358, Issue 6386, pp 477-478 (Aug. 6, 1992)". Nature. Bibcode:1992Natur.358..477P. doi:10.1038/358477a0. hdl:2027.42/62745. S2CID 4349393.

[6] "Extremely rapid bursts of TeV photons from the active galaxy Markarian 421, Nature, Volume 383, Issue 6598, pp. 319-320 (1996)" (PDF). Bibcode:1996Natur.383..319G. doi:10.1038/383319a0. S2CID 4327435. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[7] Sillanpää, A.; Takalo, L. O.; Webt Collaboration (2001). "Optical monitoring of the blazar Mk421 during the TeV outburst". International Cosmic Ray Conference. 7: 2699. Bibcode:2001ICRC....7.2699S.

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