The miniatures on this page link to full-size radio images of quasars selected from the Revised 3C Catalogue of Radio Sources. They are among the most detailed views ever obtained of the extended radio emission from radio-loud quasars.
Quasars are the brilliant, unresolved nuclei of active galaxies.
Not all quasars are strong radio sources, but some are so powerful that their radio emission can be detected across the entire known Universe. The outflows excavate enormous cavities in the intergalactic medium around the quasar, and refill these cavities with relativistic plasma and magnetic fields. The radiation from electrons spiralling in these magnetic fields makes the lobes visible to radio telescopes. Although lobes form on both sides of each quasar, implying that there are two oppositely-directed flows in each case, the radio emission received from one jet is always much brighter than that from the other. We think this asymmetry is a consequence of flow speeds approaching that of light.