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Sub-Luminal Motions in the Nucleus of M 87

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

M. J. Reid
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
J. H. M. M. Schmitt
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
P. N. Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories
K. J. Johnston
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory

Extract

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We have observed the nucleus of the elliptical galaxy M87 with VLBI arrays at 18 cm wavelength at two epochs separated by about two years. The results of the first epoch observations taken at 1980.12 are described in detail by Reid et al (1982, Ap. J. 263, pp 615-623). They indicated that the nucleus of M87 exhibited a highly asymmetric emission pattern with a bright “core” and long, thin “jet” extending for more than 0.05 arcsec towards the 20 arcsec jet seen in radio, optical, and X-ray radiation. This morphology is remarkably similar to that seen in the quasar 3C273. Asymmetric core-jet structures, possibly coupled with super-luminal motions as in 3C273, have been interpreted in the framework of relativistic beaming models (cf. Blandford, McKee, and Rees: 1977, Nature 267, pp 211–216). Therefore, we conducted second epoch observations of M87 at 1982.27 to look for such motions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1984