The R Aquarii Jet in Hindsight

The nebulosity surrounding R Aquarii was digitized from optical photographic plates obtained from the Lowell Observatory archive. These data, which span the period 1921-1950, suggest that the R Aqr jet, which was first observed and reported in the 1970s, was already affecting the inner compact nebulosity at earlier epochs. These results are the first observational evidence of an earlier origin for the R Aqr jet and, as such, are consistent with an estimated jet age of similar to 100 yr as determined from the proper motions of the oldest radio-jet components.