Article
Article
Superluminal motion
Article By:
Ponti, Gabriele Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Last reviewed:January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.757217
Proper motion of an astronomical object apparently exceeding the velocity of light, c. This phenomenon is relatively common in the nuclei of quasars, many of which exhibit systematic changes in their images over periods of months to years. In some cases, features in the image (first observed at radio frequencies) have appeared to move at a speed inferred to be more than 10–20 times the speed of light.
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