- Blazars are among the brightest objects in the universe thanks to emissions powered by supersized black holes. The most distant of the newly discovered blazars started to emit their light when the universe was just 1.4 billion years old.
- Previously, the most distant blazars detected by Fermi emitted their light when the universe was about 2.1 billion years old.
- Blazars are similar to all active galaxies, acquiring energy from matter falling toward a central supermassive black hole.
- A small part of this infalling material becomes redirected into a pair of particle jets, which blast outward in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light.
