The MOJAVE Program: Outreach

Useful Links:

Blazar Monitoring List

TEVCAT

Bordeaux VLBI Database

BZCAT

VIPS Survey

VLBA Boston U

VSOP Pre-Launch
Survey

Radio Reference
Frame Database

Radio Fundamental Catalog

VSOP Survey
Programme

X-Ray Jet Page

MOJAVE Outreach Activities

Press Releases

MPIfR, NRAO, CfA: A stunning new image of a cosmic jet aimed directly at Earth has helped astronomers unlock the mystery behind unusually bright emission of high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos from a peculiar celestial object. The source is a blazar - a type of an active galaxy powered by a super-massive black hole devouring matter at the heart of a galaxy. The researchers have captured what looks like the mythical "Eye of Sauroni" in the distant Universe and it may have just solved a decade-long cosmic puzzle. An international team of researchers made a discovery that will help in understanding how a seemingly slow-moving blazar, known as PKS 1424+240, could be one of the brightest sources of high-energy gamma rays and cosmic neutrinos ever observed.

https://scitechdaily.com/doomed-to-collide-astronomers-announce-discovery-of-supermassive-binary-black-holes/ : A team of researchers from Purdue University and other institutions has discovered a supermassive black hole binary system, one of only two known such systems. The two black holes, which orbit each other, likely weigh the equivalent of 100 million suns each. One of the black holes powers a massive jet that moves outward at nearly the speed of light. The system is so far away that the visible light seen from Earth today was emitted 8.8 billion years ago.

https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2022/2 : An international team of researchers has obtained an image of radio emission in the active galaxy OJ 287 at an angular resolution of 12 micro arcseconds, which is presently the highest resolution achieved in astronomical observations. Data from the Space VLBI interferometer RadioAstron were used in a combination with MOJAVE images to study how binary black hole may be bending the relativistic jet in the quasar OJ 287.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-missions-explore-a-tie-fighter-active-galaxy : Members of the MOJAVE team and Aneta Siemiginowska of the Chandra X-ray Center have used observations from the VLBA, Fermi and Chandra to study a young gamma-ray emitting AGN with an unusual shape caused by intermittent jets that are creating lobes of expanding plasma. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

https://mipt.ru/english/news/cosmic_quasars_embrace_1970s_fashion_trend : Team member Yuri Y. Kovalev (Lebedev Physical Institute, and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) has led a study using epoch-stacked image data from the MOJAVE survey (available on the individual AGN source pages). We have found that 10 AGN jets at redshift < 0.07 show a transition from a parabolic to conical shape. This suggests that this geometry transition may be a common effect in AGN jets. The break is found to occur at 10^{^5}-10^{^6} gravitational radii from the active nucleus.

https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2017/5 : The jet of M87 is one of the most thoroughly studied. It shows up across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio to X-ray wavelengths. M87 was also the first radio galaxy detected at highest gamma-ray energies in the TeV range. Despite the wealth of observational material, the connection between the accreting black hole and the radiating jet is not known so far. The research team addressed this question by investigating interferometric radio observations of M87 with the VLBA network connecting radio telescopes across the United States from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands. The observations at 15 GHz (or 2 cm wavelength) provide an angular resolution of 0.6 mas (milli-arcseconds). At a distance of 17 Mpc this corresponds to 0.05 pc or 84 Schwarzschild radii only.

https://phys.org/news/2015-07-distant-black-hole-giant.html : Fast-moving magnetic waves emanating from a distant supermassive black hole undulate like a whip whose handle is being shaken by a giant hand, according to a new study using data from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array. Scientists used this instrument to explore the galaxy/black hole system known as BL Lacertae (BL Lac) in high resolution.

https://public.nrao.edu/news/vlba-movies-reveal-new-details-of-cosmic-jets/ : An international team of researchers now is making an unprecedented long-term study of the motions of these giant jets, using the super-sharp imaging capabilities of the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/radio_telescope.html : An international team of astronomers has used the world's biggest radio telescope to look deep into the brightest galaxies that NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can see. The study solidifies the link between an active galaxy's gamma-ray emissions and its powerful radio-emitting jets.

Superluminal Motion

MOJAVE collaborator Dan Homan of Denison university has developed a Vpython 3-D superluminal motion simulation and accompanying laboratory exercise for an introductory astronomy level course, which can be accessed at http://personal.denison.edu/~homand/superluminal/

We have also produced an annotated movie of the quasar PKS 1222+21 which nicely illustrates a superluminal, accelerating trajectory and is designed for general audiences.


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