A catalog of new Blazar candidates with Open Universe by High School students

TL;DR

This paper presents a catalog of 54 new blazar candidates identified through multi-wavelength data analysis, demonstrating a successful citizen science project involving high school students using open-source tools.

Contribution

It introduces a novel catalog of blazar candidates created by high school students using open-source platforms, highlighting the educational and scientific value of citizen science.

Findings

54 new blazar candidates identified

Successful high school student-led research project

Validation of open-source tools for astrophysical discovery

Abstract

Blazars are active galactic nuclei whose ultra-relativistic jets are coaligned with the observer direction. They emit throughout the whole e.m. spectrum, from radio waves to VHE gamma rays. Not all blazars are discovered. In this work, we propose a catalog of 54 new candidates based on the association of HE gamma ray emission and radio, X-ray an optical signatures. The relevance of this work is also that it was performed by four high school students from the Liceo Scientifico Statale Ugo Morin in Venice, Italy using the open-source platform Open Universe, in collaboration with the University of Padova. The framework of the activity is the Italian MIUR PCTO programme. The success of this citizen-science experience and results are hereafter reported and discussed.