Minkowski’s Object: A Starburst Triggered by a Radio Jet, Revisited

Abstract

We present neutral hydrogen, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared imaging, as well as optical spectroscopic observations of Minkowski's Object (MO), a star forming system at the end of a radio jet associated with NGC541 at the center of a cluster of galaxies, Abell 194. The observations strengthen the evidence, first presented in 1985, that MO is a small, peculiar galaxy in which the star formation has been triggered by the radio jet. Key new results are the discovery of a double H I cloud with a mass of 4.9 x 10{sup 8} M{sub {circle_dot}} straddling the radio jet downstream from MO at the location where the jet changes direction and decollimates; a strong detection of MO at near- and far-UV wavelengths and in H{alpha}, both of which also show a double structure; and what appear to be numerous H II regions and associated clusters in MO. The UV morphology of MO along the radio jet resembles the radio-aligned, rest-frame UV morphologies seen in many high redshift radio galaxies, which are also thought to be caused by jet-induced star formation. The UV, optical, and near-IR data show that the stellar population is dominated by a 7.5Myr-old instantaneous burst, with a total stellar mass of 1.9 x 10{sup 7} M{sub {circle_dot}}.