This image shows the radio emission from relativistic
streams of high energy particles generated by the quasar.
This is a classic double-lobed
radio source. Astronomers believe that
the jets are fueled by material accreting onto a super-massive
black hole at the center of the host galaxy (not
shown in this image). The high energy particles are confined
to remarkably well collimated jets, and are shot into
extragalactic space at speeds approaching the speed of light,
where they eventually balloon into massive radio lobes.
The overall linear size is 215/h kpc (Hubble constant H = 100h
km/s/Mpc). This quasar has double lobes with hot spots and
filaments, and a jet with a possible counterjet opposite the
outer segment. The jet "richoches" entering its lobe.
The southern jet is much brighter than the counter-jet
because of "Doppler Boosting". When the plasma emitting the
radio radiation is moving
toward us at close to the speed of light, the radiation gets
focused towards us and appears more intense. The counter-jet would be
moving away from us, and would thus not experience Doppler
boosting. Within the nuclear radio source, features have been seen
which appear to be moving at speeds faster than the speed of
light. This apparent
"superluminal motion" is an illusion that happens when the
emitting material is moving at velocities close to, but less
than, the speed of light and in a direction very close to our
line of sight. Under these conditions, the signal from
plasma clouds which emit their radiation later in time has less
distance to travel than material which was emitted earlier, and
the signal appears to arrive at the telescope in less time than
the light travel time between the two regions.
Investigator(s): Alan H. Bridle, David H. Hough, Colin J. Lonsdale, Jack O. Burns and Robert A. Laing
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Telescope
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VLA
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Date of Observation
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1986-05-05
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Type of Observation
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Continuum Observations
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Band
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C
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Wavelength
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6 cm
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Frequency
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5.0 GHz
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Center of Image
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RA: 16:20:21.81, Dec: 17:36:24.00 (J2000)
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Field of View
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1.0000 x 1.0000 degrees
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Technical Caption
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FR II quasar at z=0.555.
VLA 4.9 GHz image at 0.35 arcsec resolution.
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