The extreme Universe will never cease to amaze us! The LST-1 telescope has detected significant gamma-ray emission from the distant blazar OP 313, discovering for the first time this source in the very-high-energy gamma-ray band (see the published ATel). It is also the first discovery made by the LST-1 telescope of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). This detection comes after several days of enhanced activity from this source observed by the Fermi-LAT telescope.

This motivated the observations performed by LST-1 between December 10th and December 14th, resulting in the detection of this source for the very first time at the highest energies. More interestingly, this distant blazar, located at a redshift z=0.997 (approximately 10 billion light years away from us!), is the furthest blazar ever detected at such energies. This discovery is another proof of the great potential of the upcoming CTAO.

This discovery involved several researchers and members of the LST-1 Collaboration, with VHEGA members Daniel Morcuende and Jorge Otero Santos leading the analysis of the data taken with LST-1. In addition, the group has also monitored this blazar with optical photometric and polarimetric observations using the telescopes at the Sierra Nevada Observatory, providing broader coverage along the electromagnetic spectrum.

For more information, check the CTAO and IAA press releases.

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Image credits: CTAO gGmbH, NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI).

On September 29th 2023, the visiting student Giulia Brunelli defended her Master’s thesis “Very-High Energy gamma-ray observations of the Geminga pulsar with the LST-1 of CTA” (available here) in front of the Graduation Board of the Master Degree Programme of the University of Bologna. She graduated in Astrophysics and Cosmology with 110 out of 110, with honours.

In Italian universities, the word to address a student who has graduated is laureato because of the tradition of wearing a laurel wreath after the graduation (laurea, in Italian) ceremony. The wreath is decorated with flowers or small berries, and a bow whose colour depends on the course of study. For the Physics and Astronomy department in Bologna, the colour is dark green.

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An Ironman is a long distance triathlon born on the island of Kona, Hawaii, after a bar discussion about who was the strongest sportsperson: a swimmer, a cyclist or a runner. They decided to solve this dispute by combining the toughest races on the island from each of the disciplines and made an announcement that has become one of the mottos of the race:

“Swim 3.8 km, Ride 180 km, Run 42.2 km. Brag for the rest of your life.”

Since then, there have been several of these races organized in different parts of the world and on October 1st, the Ironman Barcelona 2023 edition took place. Rubén López-Coto raced in representation of the VHEGA group in the event. Strong currents in the swim, very mild wind in the bike and a stifling heat until the sunset were the weather conditions accompanying the contest. After 11 hours, 34 minutes and 32 seconds, Rubén crossed the finish line to hear the long-expected words “You are an Ironman”

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