5th of October 2017 |
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VLBI images of active galactic nuclei |
(by Müller et al.) |
TANAMI (Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond
Interferometry) is a multiwavelength project to monitor relativistic
jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) of the Southern Sky.
The team's second paper, containing high angular resolution images of the centres of
39 active galaxies, has recently been accepted for publication.
The 8.4 GHz Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
image above is of the active galaxy PMN J0529−3555
(also known by its B1950 coordinates as 0527−359). The galaxy has a redshift of 0.323
and so is located 975 Mpc, or 3.2 billion light years, from our Galaxy.
Unlike the images shown in previous ADAPs,
Centaurus B
and
PMN J0718-4319,
PMN J0529-3555 is extremely core-dominated, with no sign of any parsec-scale
jet evident in the image above. There are several possibilities for this:
The jet may always be too weak to be detected in observations at this sensitivity limit,
or the jet may currently be in a quiescent phase, or the jet may terminate, or be disrupted,
too close to the core to be visible in this image, or the jet may be exactly aligned with our
line of sight. Further observations are required to determine which of these options (if any)
is correct!
More details are given in the pre-print of the paper by Müller et al. |