Some galaxies pump out huge amounts of energy from a very small volume of space,typically not much bigger than our own solar system. The cores of these galaxies, so called Active Galactic Nuclei or AGNs, or are often hundreds of millions or even billions of light years absent,so are difficult to study in any detail. Natural gravitational 'microlenses' can provide a way to probe these objects, and now a team of astronomers occupy seen hints of the extreme AGN brightness changes that hint at their presence. Leading the microlensing work, or PhD student Alastair Bruce of the University of Edinburgh presents their work nowadays (Friday 1 July) at the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham.
Source: phys.org