3C 129: The GMRT observations
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune University campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007, India e-mail: dharam@ncra.tifr.res.in; pramesh@ncra.tifr.res.in
Corresponding author: Dharam Vir Lal, dharam@ncra.tifr.res.in
Received:
1
December
2003
Accepted:
8
March
2004
We present radio maps of the head-tail radio galaxy, 3C 129
at 240 and 610 MHz using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope.
We have studied in detail the
morphology of the source and the distribution of spectral index over the object.
We find large-scale spectral steepening
along the jet away from the core.
Using synchrotron spectral ageing theory, we infer the
age (time since particle acceleration) of electrons at
various locations along the jet and ascribe an age of
~200 Myr to 3C 129.
We find that the “Crosspiece" has a spectral index of
-1, similar to the jet, which is not consistent with the
suggestion by Lane et al. (2002) that it could be a radio relic.
We have also studied 3C 129.1 and the other sources in the field.
Key words: galaxies: active / galaxies: clusters: individual: 3C 129 / radio continuum: galaxies
© ESO, 2004