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Issue A&A
Volume 450, Number 2, May I 2006
Page(s) 483 - 494
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053608

A&A 450, 483-494 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053608

A new analysis of the nucleus of NGC 1068 with MIDI observations

A. Poncelet1, 2, G. Perrin2 and H. Sol 1

1  LUTH, Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
2  LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
    e-mail: anne.poncelet@obspm.fr

(Received 9 June 2005 / Accepted 18 December 2005)

Abstract
We present a new analysis of the first mid-infrared N-band long-baseline interferometric observations of an extragalactic source: the nucleus of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, obtained with MIDI (Mid-InfrareD Interferometer), the mid-infrared beamcombiner at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). The resolution of $\lambda/B \sim 10$ mas allows us to study the compact central core of the galaxy between 8 and 13 $\mu$m. Both visibility measurements and MIDI spectrum are well reproduced by a simple radiative transfer model with two concentric spherical components. The derived angular sizes and temperatures are ~35 and 83 mas, and ~361 K and 226 K for these two components respectively. Other evidence strongly supports such low temperatures. This modeling also provides the variation of optical depth as a function of wavelength for the extended component across the N-band suggesting the presence of amorphous silicate grains. This shows that MIDI has carried out the first direct observations of the distribution of dust around the central engine.


Key words: galaxies: individual: NGC 1068 -- galaxies: Seyfert  -- galaxies: nuclei -- radiative transfer -- infrared: galaxies -- techniques: interferometic

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© ESO 2006


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