Planck revealed bulk motion of Centaurus A lobes

Abstract

Planck data towards the active galaxy Centaurus A are analyzed in the 70, 100 and 143 GHz bands. We find a temperature asymmetry of the northern radio lobe with respect to the southern one that clearly extends at least up to 5 degrees from the Cen A center and diminishes towards the outer regions of the lobes. That transparent parameter - the temperature asymmetry - thus has to carry a principal information, i.e. indication on the line-of-sight bulk motion of the lobes, while the increase of that asymmetry at smaller radii reveals the differential dynamics of the lobes as expected at ejections from the center.

4 pages, 3 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Letter to the Editor (in press)