Radio Galaxy 3C31

This image shows the radio morphology of the radio galaxy 3C31 (NGC 383), the dominant galaxy of a prominent chain of galaxies. This system is a powerful radio source, with conical inner jets developing into distorted plumes, which stretch to a distance of 300 kpc from the center of the galaxy (980,000 light years, for a Hubble constant of 100 km/s/Mpc). The radio emission is due to relativistic streams of high energy particles generated by the radio source at the center of the radio galaxy. Astronomers believe that the jets are fueled by material accreting onto a super-massive black hole. The high energy particles are shot into extragalactic space at speeds approaching the speed of light, where they eventually balloon into massive radio plumes.

FR I (plumed) radio galaxy at z=0.0169. VLA 1.4 GHz image at 5.5 arcsec resolution.

Legacy Astronomical Images

NRAO/AUI/NSF does not hold full copyright for this image. Contact the archivist for details.

Legacy Astronomical Image

3C31

Robert Laing, Alan Bridle, Richard Perley, Luigina Feretti, Gabriele Giovannini, Paola Parma

Very Large Array (VLA)

1996-00-00

continuum

L

20 cm

1.4 GHz

RA 1:7:24.960, Dec: 32:24:45.200 (J2000)

0.200000 x 0.400000 degrees

Contact the archivist for a high resolution tif of this image.

Active Galactic Nuclei Series

Radio Galaxies Unit