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J. L. Sokoloski (CfA), C. Brocksopp (JMU), C. Kaiser, N. Seymour (U. Southampton)
As part of a multi-wavelength campaign to observe the 2000-2002 outburst of the prototypical symbiotic star Z Andromedae, we observed this object 6 times with the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), in the U.K. The initial observations, which were performed within 6 months of the start of the outburst, showed no extended radio emission. Z And was consistent with a 0.5 - 1 mJy point source. One year after the start of the outburst, statistically significant extended radio emission to the south of the central radio peak had appeared. The emission was elongated along the axis perpendicular to the orbital plane, and therefore may have been due to the ejection of material in the form of a jet. The 0.06" separation between the peak of the extended emission and the central peak implies that the ejected material was moving with a velocity of ~2000 - 3000 km/s. The extended emission faded on a time scale of months. We discuss this possible jet in the context of other symbiotic jet sources, and compare our observations to previous radio maps of this source by H. Kenny.
This work was supported in part by NSF grant INT-9902665.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jsokoloski@cfa.harvard.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.