The radio galaxy PKS 0521-36

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has obtained the most detailed and highest resolution optical images of the radio galaxy PKS 0521-36. The observations were made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera.

The galaxy PKS 0521-36, which is at a distance of about one billion light years from us, is known to be a source of powerful radio emission. It has a quasar-like nucleus that is very bright, both at optical and radio wavelengths. This galaxy belongs to a small group of radio sources which have "jets" that have been seen at both radio and at optical wavelengths. These jets show that high energy material is streaming out from the nuclei at high velocity, often close to the speed of light.