Markarian 501
Markarian 501 (or Mrk 501) is a galaxy with a spectrum extending to the highest energy gamma rays. It is a blazar or BL Lac object, which is an active galactic nucleus with a jet that is shooting towards the Earth. The object has a redshift of z = 0.034.
| Markarian 501 | |
|---|---|
Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of Mrk 501 | |
| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Hercules |
| Right ascension | 16h 53m 52.21s |
| Declination | 39° 45′ 37.6″ |
| Redshift | 9915±25 km/s or 0.033640 Z |
| Distance | 456 Mly (140 Mpc; 4.32x1024 m) |
| Group or cluster | zw1707.6+4045 |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | S0 |
| Size | ~210,000 ly (64 kpc) (estimated) |
| Apparent size (V) | 94.86" × 71.1" |
| Notable features | brightest object in very-high-energy gamma rays |
| Other designations | |
| 4C39.49, PGC 59214, UGC 10599 | |
Mrk 501 is an extremely variable source of gamma rays, undergoing violent outbursts. During an outburst in 1997, it was the brightest object in the sky in the very-high-energy gamma ray region of the spectrum, at energies above 1011 eV (100 GeV).
The galaxy hosting the blazar was studied and catalogued by Benjamin Markarian in 1974. It was first determined to be a very high energy gamma ray emitter in 1996 by John Quinn at the Whipple Observatory.
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