Ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope snapshot survey of 3CR radio source counterparts at low redshift

We present UV images of 27 3CR radio galaxies with redshifts z < 0.1 that have been imaged with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph ( STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The observations employed the NUV MAMA and broadband filters with peak sensitivity at 2200 &ANGS;. We find that the UV luminosities show approximately a factor of 10 100 higher dispersion than the optical. We compare the UV morphologies with optical V - and R - band WFPC2 snapshot survey images. We have found dramatic, complex, and extended UV emission from radio galaxies even at zero redshift. We find a diverse range of UV morphologies, some completely divergent from their visual morphology, which are reminiscent of the chaotic high-z radio galaxy structures seen in rest-frame UV. The UV morphologies show regions of star formation, jets, and possible scattered active galactic nucleus continuum. The UV emission is generally not aligned with the radio structure. We also detect the diffuse UV emission of the host galaxy. We propose that these are the same physical phenomena as observed at high redshift, but on a smaller spatial scale.