QUASAR M87 JET TRAVELS AT 6 TIMES THE SPEED OF LIGHT

Animation of a series of optical images of M 87 (NGC 4486) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a span of 5 years. If the object is extragalactic, its jets are travelling at 6 times the speed of light ! (courtesy John Biretta/Space Telecope Science Institute)

In the last decade (Biretta, 1990) astronomers have been estimating the speed of various parts of the M 87 jet at ever increasing multiples of the speed of light. Since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light this object is much closer than previously estimated. M 87 is not a galaxy but a star in our own galaxy. Many quasar jets have paradoxical jet speeds; this fact is a clear indication that quasars have been misidentified as galaxies. In the context of the laser star theory, quasars are stars and these ridiculous superluminal velocities naturally disappear.

REFERENCES

1. Biretta : 1990, Bull. American Astron. Soc. 22, 1302
2. Biretta also discovered that 3C 345 is exceeding 7 times the speed of light!
3. Biretta,J.A., Perlman,E.S., Sparks,W.B., Macchetto,F.D.: 1998, American Astronomical Society Meeting,
   • 193 07.09 (see also)
   • 193 07.08 (see also)
   • 191 104.10 (1997)
   • 191 104.11
   • See also STScI preprint #1271 To appear in: the proceedings of the M87 Workshop held September 1997 at Ringberg Castle
4. Sparks,W.B. Biretta,J.A., Macchetto,F. : 1996, ApJ 473, 254
5. Biretta,J.A., Zhou,F., Owen,F.N. : 1995, ApJ 447, 582.
6. W.B. Sparks, S. de Koff, S. Baum, A. Capetti, J. Biretta, D. Golombek, F. Macchetto,P. McCarthy,G. Miley Optical Jets is radio galaxies : Science with the Hubble Space Telescope -- II Book Editors: P. Benvenuti, F. D. Macchetto, and E. J. Schreier Electronic Editor: H. Payne
7. M 87 Photo in red light using a TI CCD at the Kitt Peak 2.1m telescope