An extremely luminous active galactic nucleus with a relativistic jet pointed almost directly toward Earth, causing dramatic variability in brightness and making it one of the most energetic objects in the universe. The name combines 'BL Lacertae object' and 'quasar.'
The term was coined in 1978 by astronomer Edward Spiegel, combining 'BL Lac' (a type of variable active galaxy) with 'quasar.' It represents the unification of two previously separate classes of objects that are now understood to be the same phenomenon viewed from different angles.
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