Previous
abstract 
Next abstract
Recent observations of high redshift ($z>1$) radio galaxies have demonstrated that most of these galaxies have (rest-frame) UV continuum morphologies that are aligned with their radio continuum morphologies. In order to determine the physical processes responsible for the alignment effect, we have completed a broad-band continuum imaging survey of a well-defined sample of nearby ($0.08 < z < 0.2$) powerful radio galaxies in order to study their (rest-frame) near-UV continuum morphologies. The broad-band filters used in our survey were designed to minimize the contribution from strong emission lines in the filter bandpasses, thereby enabling us to sample pure continuum emission from the sample galaxies. We have found that most of the galaxies in the sample show extended (extra-nuclear) near-UV continuum emission. Furthermore, we have found evidence for the alignment effect at low redshift: the extended UV continuum structures are aligned with the radio continuum emission in about $\sim$ 30\% of the sample galaxies. In this poster we present our observations of selected low redshift galaxies in the sample that exhibit the alignment effect. We discuss the ability of the various processes that have been invoked to explain the alignment effect at high redshift to explain our observations of the aligned structures in nearby radio galaxies.
