Radio Galaxy 3C 120

Movie (10 MB, AVI) of the evolution of the parsec-scale jet of the radio galaxy 3C 120 at 22 GHz. 1 mas = 0.7 parsecs for a Hubble constant of 65 km/s/Mpc. There is an unresolved stationary feature on the left (eastern) end, customarily called the "core." During the movie, bright spots (elegantly termed "blobs" by experts) move down the jet. Of particular interest is a bright blob that emerges from the core after a major outburst in brightness (flux density) in early 1998. The speeds of the superluminally moving components range from 3.5 to 8.3 times the speed of light. The magnetic field behavior is complex, changing with both position and time. The core, however, is usually unpolarized. This movie was made by Jose Luis Gomez from data analyzed by him, A. Marscher, S. Jorstad, A. Alberdi, and C. Garcia-Miro.