Famous oddball quasar isn't X-ray weak after all, astronomers say
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For more than two decades, the quasar PHL 1811 has been considered the prototype of a rare class of "intrinsically X-ray weak" quasars, thought to produce unusually little X-ray radiation. But in 2024, the Einstein Probe spacecraft caught the object in a bright X-ray flare. In a new study, astronomers combined that observation with more than 20 years of archival data to revisit the mystery. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal on July 28.
Key takeaways
- 01For more than two decades, the quasar PHL 1811 has been considered the prototype of a rare class of "intrinsically X-ray weak" quasars, thought to produce unusually little X-ray radiation.
- 02But in 2024, the Einstein Probe spacecraft caught the object in a bright X-ray flare.
- 03In a new study, astronomers combined that observation with more than 20 years of archival data to revisit the mystery.
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