Top left panel: surface brightness vs. radial distance from the core to the jet (blue circles) and counter-jet of Fornax A (red squares). The dashed vertical line marks the radius where the jets bend in the east–west direction. Top right panel: surface brightness of the jet and counter-jet vs. transverse size. The dashed line shows the predicted distribution if the jets were adiabatically expanding. Bottom left panel: surface brightness ratio between jet and counter-jet vs. radial distance from the core. Bottom right panel: transverse size of the jet and counter-jet vs. radial distance from the core. Colours are as in the top panels.