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Sub-luminal Motion in M87

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2017

J. A. Biretta
Affiliation:
Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M. J. Reid
Affiliation:
Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
W. Junor
Affiliation:
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories
R. Spencer
Affiliation:
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories
T. Muxlow
Affiliation:
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories

Extract

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The galaxy M87 (3C274, NGC4486) contains one of the nearest jet sources in the northern hemisphere, and one of our best opportunities to study a jet in detail. We have made MkII VLBI observations of the nuclear jet at 1.66 GHz using 18 stations of the “World Array.” The array included Arecibo which greatly improved the north-south resolution. The data were global fringe fitted, and self-calibrated to remove both antenna and baseline amplitude and phase errors. The resulting map (Fig. 1) has a dynamic range of 2300:1 and reveals a very complex structure. At distances ≥50 mas from the core, the jet is resolved across its width and appears limb-brightened. The brightness centroid oscillates from side to side by an amount roughly equal to the jet's width; this may be caused by brightness variations at the edges of a limb-brightened jet. Within 50 mas of the core the opening angle (at the FWHM points) is 6.5°±0.3°; this is larger than that of the 20″ jet, and suggests there is recollimation between the pc and kpc scales. The jet is aligned within 1° of the 20″ jet. There is no evidence for a counter-jet; the jet/counter-jet brightness ratio is R≥200.

Type
Extragalactic
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1988 

References

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