Radio-Optical Alignment of Radio Galaxies
Abstract
Images from recent radio surveys were used to determine the radio position angles for over 2000 extended radio galaxies with host galaxies brighter than mr18 mag. For 1509 of these their optical axis ratios were obtained, and for a subset of 857 also their major axis position angle. It is confirmed that the majority of radio galaxies have their jets or lobes ejected within 30 of the optical minor axis of their host, but no evidence is found for the minor-axis alignment to be stronger for physically larger radio sources, nor for the presence of a secondary population of brightest cluster galaxies with radio axes near to parallel to their optical major axes.
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