Last Updated on May 12, 2026 by Staff
Astronomers who study the objects in the universe have found a special kind of signal coming from very far away. This signal is like a heartbeat that repeats over and over. The quasar 3C 454.3 is sending out this signal. It can help us learn more about black holes.
A team of researchers from around the world looked at twenty years of data from the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope. They found that the signal repeats about every 433 days and has been doing so for ten years from 2009 to 2018. This is a long time for a signal like this to keep going.
The discovery can help us understand what happens when matter gets close to a hole. Black holes are some of the powerful objects in the universe.
What Are Blazars?
Blazars are bright objects in space. They are a type of galaxy that has a black hole at its center. When matter falls into the hole it releases a lot of energy. Some of this energy shoots out into space in beams that travel very fast.
A blazar is what we call it when one of these beams points directly at Earth. This makes the object look very bright to us. The quasar 3C 454.3 is a known blazar. It has a black hole that is hundreds of millions of times more massive than the Sun.
Scientists have known for a time that 3C 454.3 changes brightness a lot. This makes it a great object to study.
Finding the Signal
Researchers led by Karan Dogra looked at nineteen years of data from the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope. They also used data from telescopes. By looking at the light coming from the quasar they found a pattern that repeats every 433 days. This pattern has been going on for nine years.
This kind of pattern is called a -periodic oscillation. It is like a rhythm, but not a perfect one. We see these patterns in X-rays coming from neutron stars and black holes.. It is very rare to see them in visible light.
The fact that this signal has been going on for long is very important.
What Could Be Causing the Signal?
Scientists are still trying to figure out what is causing the signal. One idea is that it has something to do with the disk of matter that surrounds the hole. This disk is like a swarm of gas and dust that slowly falls into the black hole. Changes in the disk could be causing the signal.
Another idea is that the signal is coming from the beam of energy that shoots out of the hole. Maybe there are changes or waves in the beam that are causing the signal.
The researchers think that the second idea might be more likely. They need more data to be sure.
Looking Deeper
Astronomers want to keep studying the quasar to learn more about the signal. They will keep watching 3C 454.3 and other blazars to see if they can find patterns like this. This will help us understand how black holes work and how they make these beams of energy.
The discovery shows us how important it is to have networks of telescopes that can work together to study the universe. By looking at these signals we can learn more about the extreme objects in the universe.
For now the signal from 3C 454.3 is one of the interesting things we have found in a long time. It is like a heartbeat from a quasar and it can teach us a lot about the universe.