OBSERVATIONS OF OJ 287 FROM THE GEODETIC-VLBI ARCHIVE OF THE

We present 27 geodetic VLBI maps of OJ 287 obtained from the archive of the Washington correla- tor. The observations presented here were made between 1990 October and 1996 December. During this period a sequence of six superluminal components has been identi—ed. We measured the proper motion of these components to be approximately 0.5 mas yr~1, which is about twice as high as that seen in previous VLBI observations. These results imply a higher component ejection rate than previously observed, in good agreement with the observed occurrences of radio outbursts. We have examined a possible connection between VLBI components and optical —ares in the framework of a binary black hole system. Subject headings: BL Lacertae objects: individual (OJ 287) ¨ galaxies: jetsradio continuum: galaxies