Radio Galaxy Zoo Talk

Distance between contour and IR?

  • Jaymo1978 by Jaymo1978

    Hi folks! I'm new at this, so I don't know if this is a dumb question. I haven't seen it asked anywhere so I'm hoping it's not redundant. Are radio contours, as a general rule, supposed to be directly over (or at least very close to) their IR source? I ask because I've seen a couple of examples of radio signals which appear to be smack in the middle of nowhere, but nearby is a large bright galaxy of approximately the same shape. (On a couple of instances, the radio contour and IR object were IDENTICAL in size and shape, one of these images even had two radio objects a certain distance and orientation from each other, which were an exact distance from two IR sources of the same orientation.)

    I'm not sure if these are just "noise" coincidences or what. I know about gravitational lensing where objects appear distorted or in a different location than their actual place, but I don't know if that phenomenon affects the radio spectrum of light....

    Any insight is appreciated!

    Posted

  • mini.mintaka by mini.mintaka scientist

    There's no such thing as a dumb question 😛

    Oftentimes there will be radio emission directly coincident with the IR source... but radio emission can be many different shapes. For instance the #hourglass sources are 'hourglass' shaped.. but this double-lobed structure can have lobes that appear stuck together... or have lobes that are separate! This might simply be due to distance (and hence resolution) of the object.

    There can also be #bent radio sources that have a 'C' or 'V'-shaped morphology. These are so beautiful. They make me happy. 😃

    Then there are radio sources that do not have any IR counterpart! These are super exciting (there is a thread on this already I think... try looking for #ifrs or #relic ?)

    Can you please provide an example of the radio contours n IR objects being identical but offset?

    I hope this helps!

    Posted

  • Jaymo1978 by Jaymo1978

    I will definitely put one here the next time I encounter one - I wasn't thinking, or I'd have favorited that one that I mentioned in my first post - it was SO striking, and now I'm kicking myself that I can't go back and find it!

    Thanks so much for your help! I'm a total space nut and am really looking forward to using this site (I've already been busy! 😃 )

    Posted

  • mini.mintaka by mini.mintaka scientist

    That's so nice to hear 😃 It is fun isn't it!!!

    Yes, please post an image next time you find one!

    Posted

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience in response to mini.mintaka's comment.

    I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with this chat, but the following is a dumb question:

    "how do you ask a question?"

    Posted