Issue |
A&A
Volume 450, Number 2, May I 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 483 - 494 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053608 | |
Published online | 10 April 2006 |
A new analysis of the nucleus of NGC 1068 with MIDI observations
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
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 mas allows us to study the compact central
core of the galaxy between 8 and 13 μm. 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
© ESO, 2006
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