  The z=1.786 radio galaxy 3C294 lies <10 arsec from a 12th mag star and has
been the target of at least three previous investigations using adaptive-optics
imaging. A major problem in interpreting these results is the uncertainty in
the precise alignment of the radio structure with the H or K-band AO imaging.
Here we report observations of the position of the AO guide star with the HST
Fine Guidance Sensor, which, together with positions from the U. S. Naval
Observatory's UCAC2 catalog, allow us to register the infrared and radio frames
to an accuracy of better than 0.1 arcsec. The result is that the nuclear
compact radio source is not coincident with the brightest discrete object in
the AO image, an essentially unresolved source on the eastern side of the light
distribution, as Quirrenbach et al. (2001) had suggested. Instead, the radio
source is centered about 0.9 arcsec to the west of this object, on one of the
two apparently real peaks in a region of diffuse emission. Nevertheless, the
conclusion of Quirrenbach et al. that 3C294 involves an ongoing merger appears
to be correct: analysis of a recent deep Chandra image of 3C294 obtained from
the archive shows that the nucleus comprises two X-ray sources, which are
coincident with the radio nucleus and the eastern stellar object. The
X-ray/optical flux ratio of the latter makes it extremely unlikely that it is a
foreground Galactic star.
