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| HST Picture of the quasar 3C 212. There is optical nebulosity associated with the radio jets. Green contours are 3.6 cm VLA radio map. This Hubble Space Telescope picture is 15 arcseconds across. (courtesy Stockton and Ridgway) |
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| HST Picture of the quasar 3C 212. There is optical nebulosity associated with the radio jets. Green contours are 3.6 cm VLA radio map. This Hubble Space Telescope picture is 15 arcseconds across. (courtesy Stockton and Ridgway) |
The radio jets from 3C 212 terminate on symmetrically oriented optical nebulosities. Stockton et al. (1998) claim that these objects are separate galaxies not associated with the quasar because all three objects have different redshifts (hence very different distances). Arp has shown that the probability that this and many other alignments could occur by chance is infinitesimally small. According to Arp, these three objects, the quasar and the two 'galaxies', are associated because redshift cannot be interpreted as distance. However, even Arp's theory is inadequate to explain why galaxies are associated with the ends of each radio jet.
The laser star theory solves this dilema : The optical lobes are not galaxies, they are nebulosities produced when the jets emitted by the quasar ram into circumstellar ashes and the interstellar medium. These type of alignments occur frequently in young stellar objects. This is strong evidence in favour of the laser star interpretation of quasar spectra.
