Earth is in the firing line of a strange new type of cosmic object, astronomers say

Researchers have observed the strongest candidate yet for a "microblazar" — a dazzling object that has long been predicted to exist but never spotted.

Observations of microblazars would give astronomers closer views of black holes emitting powerful jets of energy and help them understand how these extreme objects behave.

Blazars are some of the most energetic objects in the universe. They are a type of quasar — a brightly glowing object fueled by a supermassive black hole stripping material from its host galaxy and then ejecting some of it in powerful, opposing jets of particles and radiation. To qualify as a blazar, one of those near-light-speed jets needs to point directly at Earth. Astronomers have previously discovered smaller versions of quasars, dubbed microquasars, and long theorized that there must be smaller versions of blazars as well.

Now, an international team led by astronomers in Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina h...