Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 2 April 1971:
Vol. 172. no. 3978, pp. 52 - 54
DOI: 10.1126/science.172.3978.52
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Quasars: Millisecond-of-Arc Structure Revealed by Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry

Curtis A. Knight 1, Douglas S. Robertson 1, Alan E. E. Rogers 1, Irwin I. Shapiro 1, Alan R. Whitney 1, Thomas A. Clark 2, Richard M. Goldstein 3, Gerard E. Marandino 4, and Nancy R. Vandenberg 4

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139
2 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91103
4 University of Maryland, College Park 20740

Observations with the Goldstone-Haystack radio interferometer of the quasars 3C 279 and 3C 273 have disclosed the presence of fine structure in their radio emissions. Although the interpretation is not unique, the fringe-amplitude data for quasar 3C 279 are quite consistent with emissions from two points, each contributing equally to the correlated flux. The separation of the two points is estimated to be (1.55 ± 0.05) x 10-3 arc second, or about 20 light years at the distance of 3 x 109 light years inferred from optical red-shift data. The formal uncertainty in the right-ascension component of the separation is about 6 x 10-6 arc second; differential proper motion in this direction at half the speed of light could be discerned within a year. The fringe-amplitude data of quasar 3C 273 allow similar, but less definitive, interpretations.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Subcellular Localization of Angiotensin II Immunoreactivity in the Rat Cerebellar Cortex.
B. Erdmann, K. Fuxe, and D. Ganten (1996)
Hypertension 28, 818-824
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Transcontinental Baselines and the Rotation of the Earth Measured by Radio Interferometry.
I. I. Shapiro, I. I. Shapiro, D. S. Robertson, C. A. Knight, C. C. Counselman III, A. E. E. Rogers, H. F. Hinteregger, S. Lippincott, A. R. Whitney, T. A. Clark, et al. (1974)
Science 186, 920-922
   Abstract »    PDF »
Interferometric Observations of an Artificial Satellite.
R. A. Preston, R. A. Preston, R. Ergas, H. F. Hinteregger, C. A. Knight, D. S. Robertson, I. I. Shapiro, A. R. Whitney, A. E. E. Rogers, and T. A. Clark (1972)
Science 178, 407-409
   Abstract »    PDF »
3C279: Evidence for a Non-Superrelativistic Model.
W. A. Dent (1972)
Science 175, 1105-1106
   Abstract »    PDF »
Rapidly Changing Radio Images.
A. Cavaliere, P. Morrison, and L. Sartori (1971)
Science 173, 525-528
   Abstract »    PDF »
Quasars Revisited: Rapid Time Variations Observed Via Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry.
A. R. Whitney, I. I. Shapiro, A. E. E. Rogers, D. S. Robertson, C. A. Knight, T. A. Clark, R. M. Goldstein, G. E. Marandino, and N. R. Vandenberg (1971)
Science 173, 225-230
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)