Radio Galaxy Zoo Talk

Floating

  • WAZZY by WAZZY

    Not sure what to make of the floating radio sources.

    Posted

  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to WAZZY's comment.

    If by "floating radio sources" you mean the two 1-contour ones the E (left; astronomers reverse E and W in their images, compared with "earthly" ones), and the two kinda at a diagonal to the NE (upper-left; astronomers use the same N and S as you find in an earthly map), then they're #artifacts (or #artefacts).

    They are often seen when there's a bright radio source, as in this case, and are an inevitable result of the way the radio images are created. It might help to think of them as a sorta radio counterpart to the 'compass points' you see in IR (and SDSS) images of bright stars, even though the way they are produced is quite different.

    Another sign of the way radio images are created is the triangular/hexagonal "mesh" pattern you'll often see in FIRST (and sometimes RGZ) images. For this source it's a little weak, but nonetheless clearly 'visible':

    enter image description here

    Hope this helps, and happy hunting! 😃

    Posted