Bulletin of the AAS (BAAS), volume 40, number 1, 2008 (20.01I)

With the ground based VERITAS, MAGIC, MILAGRO, and HESS experiments and the space-born GLAST observatory to be launched in mid 2008 we will have access to a powerful suite of observatories to study the gamma-ray emission from extragalactic systems. In this contribution, recent results from ground based gamma-ray observatories and upcoming science opportunities afforded by GLAST will be discussed. The contribution will largely focus on blazars and on possible avenues for using the observational data to constrain the jet properties and the jet formation mechanisms. In addition, the scientific potential of detections of gamma-rays from cosmic rays and dark matter annihilation processes in extragalactic systems will be outlined.