MOJAVE (Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments) is a long-term program to monitor radio brightness and polarization variations in jets associated with active galaxies visible in the northern sky. Approximately 2/3 of these were observed from 1994-2002 as part of the VLBA 2 cm Survey. These jets are powered by the accretion of material onto billion-solar-mass black holes located in the nuclei of active galaxies. Their rapid brightness variations and apparent superluminal motions indicate that they contain highly energetic plasma moving nearly directly at us at speeds approaching that of light.  Our observations are made with the world's highest resolution telescope: the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at a wavelength of 2 cm, which enables us to make full polarization images with an angular resolution better than 1 milliarcsecond (the apparent separation of your car's headlights parked on the Moon, as seen from Earth). We are using these data to better understand the complex evolution and magnetic field structures of these jets on light-year scales, close to where they originate in the active nucleus.

For astronomers: All calibrated (u,v) visibility and FITS data for the MOJAVE and 2 cm Survey programs are available via html links on the source pages. If you are interested in Stokes Q,U,V (linear and circular polarization) FITS images, please contact us.

If you intend to use these data in a publication, we ask that you please contact us so we can add a link to our external publications page, and ask that you include the following acknowledgment: "This research has made use of data from the MOJAVE database that is maintained by the MOJAVE team (Lister et al., 2009, AJ, 137, 3718)"

WHAT'S NEW:

Recent Joint Fermi-MOJAVE papers:  We have found several strong connections between the VLBA radio jet properties of MOJAVE blazars and their Fermi-detected gamma-ray emission. Details have been published in Pushkarev et al. 2009, Lister et al. 2009, Kovalev  et al. 2009, and Abdo et al. 2009.

Updated composite Fermi-VLBA Image:



We have released an updated composite image showing the gamma-ray sky based on the first 11 months of Fermi data, with zoomed-in VLBA images of bright extragalactic jets from the MOJAVE program. 

New Papers on Jet Kinematics:  We have recently completed an extensive analysis of speeds and accelerations of over 500 individual jet features in 127 MOJAVE blazar jets, based on 2,424 VLBA images taken during the period 1994-2007. The results have been published in two papers: Lister et al. 2009, and Homan et al. 2009

Rapid Monitoring of Selected Blazars: We have identified 5 blazars in our sample with extremely rapid structural changes in their jets: 3C 111 (0415+379), 3C 120 (0430+052), 0716+714, 1510-089, and BL Lac (2200+420). We will be observing these approximately every 3 weeks with the VLBA. We observe the other jets at intervals ranging from once per month to once every 2 years, depending on their individual level of jet activity and expansion.

Image paper in AJ: A paper containing all 2 cm VLBA images of the MOJAVE flux-limited AGN sample from our program and the VLBA archive is now published in the Astronomical Journal. This paper also contains 'stacked' naturally weighted and uniformly weighted images, which are the average of all the available 2 cm VLBA images on that particular source.

Addition of 2 AGN to flux-density-limited MOJAVE sample: In processing archival VLBA data, we have found two additional AGN that satisfied the flux-density-limited MOJAVE sample criteria during the period 1994-2004. These two sources (0838+133 and 1807+698) have been added to the flux-limited sample, bringing the total up to 135 sources.

MOJAVE in the Fermi Era:  Regular VLBA observations of the MOJAVE sample  have been approved by NRAO to continue through June 2010. These are being carried out at the approximate rate of 30 AGN every 3 weeks at 2 cm wavelength. Each AGN is observed every 3 weeks to every 24 months, depending on its rate of angular evolution on the sky and jet activity level.  The current list of sources being monitored can be found in our information table. Up to 100 additional Fermi LAT-detected gamma-ray AGN that have correlated 2 cm VLBA flux exceeding ~100 mJy are being added to the sample.  The current sample includes:

• all 135 sources in the original (flux-limited) MOJAVE sample.
  
• all currently known EGRET gamma-ray AGN above declination -20°
  
• 33 low-luminosity AGN (15 GHz luminosity < 10²⁶ W/Hz)
• 6 gigahertz-peaked spectrum sources
• 11 AGN from the previous 2cm Survey that have unusual kinematics
• newly added LAT-detected AGN bright enough for VLBA fringe detection

Movies:  On our movies page you can click on the name of an active galaxy and get a MPEG movie showing its total intensity and linearly polarized jet evolution over the several years. Clicking on a thumbnail image will display a movie showing the total intensity evolution in the jet over the last twelve years (or a shorter time interval, depending on available data). Note that some movies contain blank frames due to missing temporal coverage - if you have published 2 cm VLBA data on any AGN listed on this web site and wish to contribute them to our online archive, please let us know!

Superluminal Motion Demonstration Applet:  REU student Quinn Looker and Prof. Matthew Lister of Purdue University have developed a Flash software applet to
demonstrate the principle of superluminal motion.