Oral Presentation
Space-VLBI observations of M87 with RadioAstron
Presenter: Tuomas Savolainen (Aalto University Metsahovi Radio Observatory)
Due to its high orbit the Spektr-R satellite of the RadioAstron space-VLBI program can perform interferometric observations at an unprecedented angular resolution, down to tens of microarcseconds level at cm-wavelengths. This angular resolution translates to a spatial resolution of only a few to a few hundreds of Schwarzschild radii at the distance of the nearby radio galaxies allowing one to probe the jet acceleration and collimation zone and offering a unique view of the internal jet structure. The RadioAstron Nearby AGN Key Science Program has carried out near-perigee space-VLBI imaging of nearby radio galaxies - M87, Centaurus A and 3C84. We present here an update on the results from this program, concentrating on M87, which was successfully detected on space-to-ground baselines at all three observing bands (18, 6 and 1.3 cm). The detections on projected baseline lengths up to 3 Earth diameters at 18 and 6 cm provide a factor of four increase in the resolution compared to the VLBA at these observing bands.
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