Abstract We present radio images of the compact steep spectrum (CSS) quasar 3C 286 acquired with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 8.4 and 22.5 GHz. The source exhibits a two--sided core--jet structure with a bright central component and two extended components one to the east (P.A. 100°) and another to the southwest (P.A. -116°). From the compact core, an extension runs towards the southwest component up to ∼ 0.7 arcsecond. The emission between the primary central component and the southwest component exhibits a knotty structure. A gradual change of the jet position angles from -135° to -120° in the inner southwest jet suggests a local bend. The position angle changes of the major eastern components E2 and E1 suggest that the eastern jet likely follows a curved trace. The bends in the jet trace may be associated with a relativistic precession or some interaction between the jet and the ambient matter. A mean spectral index of \alpha8.4}^{22.5}∼ -0.76 (Sν∝να) is estimated for the core component. Steep spectra are also obtained for the extended southwest component (2.6'', P.A. -116°) and eastern component (0.8'', P.A. 100°), with \alpha8.4}^{22.5}∼-0.88 and \alpha8.4}^{22.5}∼-1.79, respectively. The radio morphologies and spectral index distributions suggest that the core seen in our images is likely to be the beamed inner jet while the real nucleus is dimmed by it beaming away from us.

Keywords galaxy: quasar: individual --- radio continuum: VLA

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