DETECTION OF A FAINT OPTICAL JET IN 3C-120

We report the detection of an optical jet in the nearby Seyfert 1 radi o galaxy 3C 120. The optical jet coincides with the well-known radio j et and emits continuum radiation (B, V', I) with a radio-to-optical sp ectral index of 0.65. There are no clear optical counterparts to the r adio knots, although the optical condensation A of the galaxy, which i ncludes the bright 4'' radio knot, is found to be 12% polarized with t he electric field vectors perpendicular to the jet. These findings ind icate that 3C 120 contains the sixth known extragalactic optical synch rotron jet, quite similar in its properties to the jet of PKS 0521-36. The outer part of the jet is the faintest known optical jet and was d iscovered as the result of a dedicated effort to detect it. It is ther efore possible that more optical jets can be discovered in systematic searches by combining deep imaging in the optical or near-infrared wit h careful galaxy subtraction methods.