Vlbi Observations of the Compact Components in M82

The nearby IrrII galaxy M82 (3C 231, NGC3034) is known to have a complex, very elongated radio brightness distribution in the central region of the galaxy (e.g., Kronberg and Wilkinson 1975). Because of the galaxy’s proximity (distance ~ 3.3 Mpc; Tammann and Sandage 1968), the brightness distribution can be investigated in considerable detail. Recently Unger et al. (1984) and Kronberg, Biermann, and Schwab (1985; see also Kronberg 1986) distinguished about 20 compact components in the central region, most of them unresolved with an upper limit on their angular sizes of ~ 150 mas corresponding to an upper limit on their linear sizes of ~ 2 pc. About half of the components were observed at more than one frequency and at several epochs and were found typically to have steep spectra between 5 and 15 GHz and (Kronberg and Sramek 1985) slowly decreasing flux densities.

Large-Scale Radio Jets

The purpose of this review is to outline the systematic properties of radio jets on kpc scales, as derived from the basic observations of surface brightness and linear polarization and to emphasize the uncertainties in the determination of their physical parameters. These results come primarily from observations of about 100 jets with the VLA: a fuller account is given by Bridle (1982) and the proceedings of IAU Symposium 97 contain many illustrations and references, which must be omitted here.I take a “jet” to be a feature in the radio brightness distribution which is at least four times as long as it is wide, which can be clearly separated (spatially or by brightness contrast) from the rest of the source and points away from a radio core. Wilson (1982) has considered jets in spiral galaxies and I shall discuss only the more luminous jets found in elliptical radio galaxies and quasars.