EV024
3C66B is a nearby radio galaxy proposed to host a supermassive black hole binary (SBHB) with ~ one year period based on the elliptical motion of the radio core, observed in in-beam phase-referenced (calibrator 3C66A) VLBI experiments in 2003. Follow-up studies were, however, inadequate to confirm the elliptical motion. Previous observations used 3C66A, which may have contributed to the positional variations owing to intrinsic variability resulting from a jittering jet. For high accuracy astrometric measurement of the core shift in 3C66B, we propose to use two additional in-beam position reference sources and monitor with a cadence of five per year (3 regular+2 e-EVN) for two years (about two orbits of the SBHB). The compactness and dectectability of the two additional sources at VLBI scale were established through our previous EVN L-band observations (EV023). We request full track 12 hours of observing time for each session at 18 cm in multi-phase center mode.
Observation pages at the EVN archive:
This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197