NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

This image shows the optical and radio morphology of the double-lobed radio galaxy 3C66B. In this radio/optical overlay, blue colors show the distribution of stars, made from an image from the Digitized Sky Survey, and red colors show the radio radiation as imaged by the VLA, measured at a wavelength of 20cm. This radio emission is from relativistic streams of high energy particles generated by the quasar. Astronomers believe that the jets are fueled by material accreting onto a super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy hosting the quasar. The high energy particles are shot into extragalactic space at speeds approaching the speed of light, where they eventually balloon into massive radio lobes.

Investigator(s):  M.J.Hardcastle, P.Alexander, G.G.Pooley & J.Riley. Optical/radio superposition by Alan Bridle

Alternate Resolutions

Help

This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 576 x 451 color JPEG
• 900 x 705 color JPEG
• 4958 x 3600 color TIFF

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Read the Journal article
• Visit related website http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~abridle/3c66bdigss.htm
• Up one level for more info on Radio_Galaxies
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	ALMA
Date of Observation	1991-08-19
Type of Observation	Continuum Observations
Band	L
Wavelength	20 cm
Frequency	1.4 GHz
Center of Image	RA: 02:23:11.78, Dec: 42:59:30.40 (J2000)
Field of View	0.1333 x 0.0833 degrees
Technical Caption	FR I (plumed) radio galaxy at z=0.0215 (65/h Mpc, H = 100h km/s/Mpc). Jets and plumes extend 140/h kpc from galaxy. VLA 1.45 GHz (20cm) image at 12.5 arcsec resolution.



Astronomical database entries for 3C66
• Query NED for images of 3C66
• Query SIMBAD for more 3C66 data

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