Number 55 (Story #2), November 7, 1991 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein THE MOST LUMINOUS GAMMA-RAY SOURCE in the sky, the quasar 3C279, was discovered recently by the orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. According to Kenneth Brecher of Boston University, the luminosity of 3C279 in gamma rays (assuming it radiates isotropically) is about 1048 ergs/sec, about 100 million times the gamma-ray flux of the Milky Way galaxy. 3C279 had not been detected by earlier missions, such as SAS-2 and COS-B, indicating that it is probably a variable source (turning on and off) of gammas. (Article by Brecher in Physics News in 1991, to be published in December 1991.)