Abstract
Blazars (BL Lac objects and optically violently variable quasars) are characterized by high optical polarization, and highly variable optical flux, polarization and polarization position angle1. Many have other extraordinary properties that could be explained by a radiating jet undergoing bulk relativistic motion directed towards the observer. Several workers have suggested that the jets seen in ordinary double radio sources could appear as blazars, if they were viewed end-on1; in this case the two lobes would not appear separately, but would appear in projection as a halo around the point source. Generally, blazar maps in the literature are consistent with this notion2–4, with only two unusual (bent or very asymmetrical) double sources—1400 + 162 (refs 3–6) and 3C279 (ref. 7)—having been reported. However, we have now found three clear double radio sources (two being quite symmetrical) around the strong central point sources, including one classical double. A fourth blazar has head–tail morphology. It may be possible to reconcile these observations with the model cited above if we imagine that the jets do not lie precisely alone the line of sight, or that the lobes are misaligned with the jets8.
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Antonucci, R., Ulvestad, J. Blazars can have double radio sources. Nature 308, 617–619 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308617a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308617a0
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