Infrared Mapping of Galaxian Centres - Star Forming Regions with Kiloparsec Scale Sizes

The published photographic profile of 3C 206 (reported in the low redshift sample of quasars by Wyckoffet al., 1981) has been deconvolved from the PSF by means of an effective restoration procedure. The deconvolved photometric structure of the quasar consists of a central point-like source, containing 68% of the integrated luminosity, an intermediate region of about 10 kpc radius (H ₀=60 km s^-1 Mpc^-1,q ₀=0) and an external region with nearly-linear slope and brightness level of the profile similar to those of the corresponding regions in giant elliptical and cD galaxies. The result confirms the previous findings in 3C 273, PKS 2135+147, and PKS 0812+020 obtained in the same way.