McKean, John P.Spingola, C.Powell, D.M.Vegetti, S.2026-04-162026-04-162025-11McKean, J.P., Spingola, C., Powell, D.M. et al. 2025, 'An extended and extremely thin gravitational arc from a lensed compact symmetric object at redshift of 2.059', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 544, no. 1, pp. L24-L30. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaf039.0035-8711 (print)1365-2966 (online)10.1093/mnrasl/slaf039http://hdl.handle.net/2263/109621DATA AVAILABILITY : The data used here are publicly available via the EVN archive.Compact symmetric objects (CSOs) are thought to be short-lived radio sources with two lobes of emission that are separated by less than a kpc in projection. However, studies of such systems at high redshift are challenging due to the limited resolution of present-day telescopes, and can be biased to the most luminous objects. Here, we report imaging of a gravitationally lensed CSO at a redshift of 2.059 using very long baseline interferometry at 1.7 GHz. The data are imaged using Bayesian forward modelling deconvolution, which reveals a spectacularly extended and thin gravitational arc, and several resolved features within the lensed images. The surface brightness of the lensing-corrected source shows two mini-lobes separated by 642 pc in projection, with evidence of multiple hotspots that have brightness temperatures of 108 . 6 to 109 . 2 K, and a total luminosity density of 1026 . 3 W Hz−1 . By combining the well-resolved radio source morphology with previous multiwavelength studies, we conclude that this object is likely a CSO of type 2, and that the properties are consistent with the bow-shock model for compact radio sources. Our analysis highlights the importance of combining high-quality data sets with sophisticated imaging and modelling algorithms for studying the high-redshift Universe.en© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Gravitational lensing: strongTechniques: interferometricGalaxies: activeRadio continuum: galaxiesCompact symmetric objects (CSOs)Article