Kinematics of the Nucleus of NGC 1275 (3C 84)

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Abstract
We have used the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array to image the nucleus of NGC 1275 (3C 84) at frequencies of 15 and 43 GHz, with an angular resolution of about 0.6 and 0.15 mas, respectively. On scales of 0.05-5 pc (0.15-15 mas), the previously identified regions of radio emission are seen with unprecedented clarity: a bright and complex central core, a southern cocoon-like "expanding bubble," a faint, thin jet connecting the core to the bubble, and an inverted spectrum northern "counterfeature." The inner 0.5 pc of the core has bright knots of emission located along a line with multiple sharp bends, as if sprayed from a precessing nozzle with a full opening angle of ~40°. These knots move at 0.05c, 0.08c, and 0.2c (±0.03c), for components at increasing distances from the core, indicative of acceleration along the jet. However, there are rapid and progressive flux changes in the slow-moving knots, corresponding to a phase velocity of ~0.9c±0.1c.

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