Bibcode
Gonzalez-Serrano, J. I.; Perez-Fournon, I.; Morganti, R.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 267, no. 2, p. 424-430
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3
1994
Citations
1
Refereed citations
1
Description
We present deep charge coupled device (CCD) imaging of the
low-luminosity radio galaxy B2 1243+26 which contains a two-sided,
well-defined radio jet at the kpc scale. The galaxy is located in a
region of high galactic density and has a nearby companion of similar
luminosity. At approximately 10 kpc from the nucleus of the galaxy, we
detect optical emission spatially associated with the radio jet. This
structure is elongated and extends parallel to it by approximately 24
kpc. We discuss the nature of the optical emission and its relation to
the radio jet. Photoionization of gas by a nuclear source or by shocks,
similar to that occurring in other radio galaxies, cannot be ruled out.
On the other hand, our observations are consistent with optical emission
from the ambient gas that has been emtrained by the radio jet. This
hypothesis will explain nicely the high asymmetry in the polarization of
the two sides of the source, which is otherwise very symmetric.