Spectropolarimetry of the borderline Seyfert 1 galaxy ESO 323-G077*
1
Institut für Astronomie, ETH Zentrum, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
2
Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Corresponding author: H. M. Schmid, schmid@astro.phys.ethz.ch
Received:
19
December
2002
Accepted:
31
March
2003
We report the detection of high linear polarization
in the bright Seyfert 1 galaxy ESO 323-G077.
Based on optical spectropolarimetry with FORS1
at the VLT we find a continuum polarization which ranges from 2.2% at 8300 Å to 7.5% at 3600 Å. Similar amounts
of linear polarization are found for the broad emission lines,
while the narrow lines are not polarized.
The position angle of the polarization (
)
is independent of the wavelength and found to be perpendicular
to the orientation of the extended [O iii] emission cone of this galaxy. Within the standard model of
Seyfert nuclei the observations can be well understood
assuming that this AGN is observed at an inclination angle
where the nucleus is partially obscured and seen mainly indirectly
in the light scattered by dust clouds within or above the torus and
the illuminated inner edge of the dust torus itself.
Hence we conclude that ESO 323-G077 is a borderline Seyfert 1
galaxy which can provide important information on the geometric
properties of active nuclei.
Key words: galaxies: active / galaxies: Seyfert / galaxies: individual: ESO 323-G077 / polarization / scattering
© ESO, 2003