  3C 279 is one of the best studied flat spectrum radio quasars located at a
comparatively large redshift of z = 0.536. Observations in the very high energy
band of such distant sources were impossible until recently due to the expected
steep energy spectrum and the strong gamma-ray attenuation by the extragalactic
background light photon field, which conspire to make the source visible only
with a low energy threshold. Here the detection of a significant gamma-ray
signal from 3C 279 at very high energies (E > 75 GeV) during a flare in early
2006 is reported. Implications of its energy spectrum on the current
understanding of the extragalactic background light and very high energy
gamma-ray emission mechanism models are discussed.
