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Compact Core, Extended Reach: A Bipolar Kiloparsec-scale Elongation in a Little Red Dot at z ≈ 5.5

  • Authors: Zhiyuan Ji, Yang Sun, Mauro Giavalisco, Yongda Zhu, George H. Rieke, Christina C. Williams, Michael V. Maseda, Jianwei Lyu, Marcia Rieke, Sandro Tacchella

Zhiyuan Ji et al 2026 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 1008 .

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure 1.

NIRCam imaging and NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum of LRD-204851 at zsys = 5.482. Top row: τhree NIRCam RGB cutouts at the native resolution, all shown with a common linear stretch. The left panel uses three continuum filters; the middle panel highlights [O III]+Hβ; and the right panel highlights Hα+[N II] in green. The target is a compact red point source in F460M, but shows a remarkably elongated blue continuum extension from southeast to northwest, as well as complex structures in optical emission lines. Bottom: NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum (MSA shuttle is shown in the inset). The blue and red solid lines show the rest-UV and rest-optical continuum power laws, respectively. The characteristic “V-shaped” continuum identifies LRD-204851 as an LRD, and higher-resolution spectra confirm that its Hα emission includes a broad component with FWHM > 1000 km s−1 (J. Matthee et al. 2024; I. Juodžbalis et al. 2026; J. Matthee et al. 2026); these spectra are not shown here.

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