An image of the dust sublimation region in the nucleus of NGC 1068
An image of the dust sublimation region in the nucleus of NGC 1068
We present near-infrared interferometric data on the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The extensive baseline coverage from 5 to 60 Mλ allowed us to reconstruct a continuum image of the nucleus with an unrivaled 0.2 pc resolution in the K-band. We find a thin ring-like structure of emission with a radius r = 0.24 ± 0.03 pc, inclination i = 70 ± 5°, position angle PA = −50 ± 4°, and h/r < 0.14, which we associate with the dust sublimation region. The observed morphology is inconsistent with the expected signatures of a geometrically and optically thick torus. Instead, the infrared emission shows a striking resemblance to the 22 GHz maser disc, which suggests they share a common region of origin. The near-infrared spectral energy distribution indicates a bolometric luminosity of (0.4–4.7) × 1045 erg s−1, behind a large AK ≈ 5.5 (AV ≈ 90) screen of extinction that also appears to contribute significantly to obscuring the broad line region.
Galaxies: Seyfert, Galaxies: active, Galaxies: nuclei, Techniques: interferometric
Pfuhl, O.
54ec7827-0bd8-4eb2-9e64-d678581b76e1
Davies, R.
b3bce148-1213-4c2e-a3bf-a79fe8360f03
Dexter, J.
9911774a-4f54-4242-b89a-4b672cddf5f3
Hoenig, Sebastian
be0bb8bc-bdac-4442-8edc-f735834f3917
1 February 2020
Pfuhl, O.
54ec7827-0bd8-4eb2-9e64-d678581b76e1
Davies, R.
b3bce148-1213-4c2e-a3bf-a79fe8360f03
Dexter, J.
9911774a-4f54-4242-b89a-4b672cddf5f3
Hoenig, Sebastian
be0bb8bc-bdac-4442-8edc-f735834f3917
Pfuhl, O., Davies, R. and Dexter, J.
,
GRAVITY Collaboration
(2020)
An image of the dust sublimation region in the nucleus of NGC 1068.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 634, [A1].
(doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201936255).
Abstract
We present near-infrared interferometric data on the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The extensive baseline coverage from 5 to 60 Mλ allowed us to reconstruct a continuum image of the nucleus with an unrivaled 0.2 pc resolution in the K-band. We find a thin ring-like structure of emission with a radius r = 0.24 ± 0.03 pc, inclination i = 70 ± 5°, position angle PA = −50 ± 4°, and h/r < 0.14, which we associate with the dust sublimation region. The observed morphology is inconsistent with the expected signatures of a geometrically and optically thick torus. Instead, the infrared emission shows a striking resemblance to the 22 GHz maser disc, which suggests they share a common region of origin. The near-infrared spectral energy distribution indicates a bolometric luminosity of (0.4–4.7) × 1045 erg s−1, behind a large AK ≈ 5.5 (AV ≈ 90) screen of extinction that also appears to contribute significantly to obscuring the broad line region.
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An image of the dust sublimation
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Accepted/In Press date: 1 December 2019
Published date: 1 February 2020
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Acknowledgements. We thank the referees for their careful reading of the manuscript and their suggestions that have helped to improve it. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work has made extensive use of the software QFitsView, which has been developed by Thomas Ott, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (http: //www.mpe.mpg.de/~ott/QFitsView/). F. E. and O. P. acknowledge support from ERC synergy grant No. 610058 (Black-HoleCam). J. D. was supported by a Sofja Kovalevskaja award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation and in part by NSF grant AST 1909711. A. A. and P. G. acknowledge funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through grants UID/FIS/00099/2013 and SFRH/BSAB/142940/2018. P.O.P acknowledges support from the Programme National Hautes Energies (PNHE) of the Centre National de la Recherche Sci-entifique (CNRS).
Publisher Copyright:
© GRAVITY Collaboration et al. 2020.
Keywords:
Galaxies: Seyfert, Galaxies: active, Galaxies: nuclei, Techniques: interferometric
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 442605
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/442605
ISSN: 0004-6361
PURE UUID: e705ecb3-0731-410f-b313-cfa11d50d431
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Date deposited: 21 Jul 2020 16:30
Last modified: 11 Nov 2024 18:56
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Author:
O. Pfuhl
Author:
R. Davies
Author:
J. Dexter
Corporate Author: GRAVITY Collaboration
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