VLTI/VINCI observations of the nucleus of NGC 1068 using the adaptive optics system MACAO

Abstract

We present the first near-infrared K-band long-baseline interferometric measurement of the prototype Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 with resolution lambda/B \~ 10 mas obtained with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and the two 8.2m Unit Telescopes UT2 and UT3. The adaptive optics system MACAO was employed to deliver wavefront-corrected beams to the K-band commissioning instrument VINCI. A squared visibility amplitude of 16.3 +/- 4.3 % was measured for NGC 1068 at a sky-projected baseline length of 45.8 m and azimuth angle 44.9 deg. This value corresponds to a FWHM of the K-band intensity distribution of 5.0 +/- 0.5 mas (0.4 +/- 0.04 pc) at the distance of NGC 1068) if it consists of a single Gaussian component. Taking into account K-band speckle interferometry observations (Wittkowski et al. 1998; Weinberger et al. 1999; Weigelt et al. 2004), we favor a multi-component model for the intensity distribution where a part of the flux originates from scales clearly smaller than about 5 mas (<0.4 pc), and another part of the flux from larger scales. The K-band emission from the small (< 5 mas) scales might arise from substructure of the dusty nuclear torus, or directly from the central accretion flow viewed through only moderate extinction.

Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters

References in corpus (7)

• Dust Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei
• High Spatial Resolution Imaging of NGC 1068 in the Mid Infrared
• Interferometer Observations of Subparsec-scale Infrared Emission in the Nucleus of NGC 4151
• Data reduction methods for single-mode optical interferometry - Application to the VLTI two-telescopes beam combiner VINCI
• From the Circumnuclear Disk in the Galactic Center to thick, obscuring tori of AGNs
• Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Photometry of NGC 1068
• Where have all the black holes gone?

Cited by in corpus (47)

• Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy
• A diversity of dusty AGN tori: Data release for the VLTI/MIDI AGN Large Program and first results for 23 galaxies
• Radiative Transfer Modeling of Three-Dimensional Clumpy AGN Tori and its Application to NGC 1068
• The innermost region of AGN tori: implications from the HST/NICMOS Type 1 point sources and near-IR reverberation
• The dusty torus in the Circinus galaxy: a dense disk and the torus funnel
• The dusty heart of nearby active galaxies -- II. From clumpy torus models to physical properties of dust around AGN
• Resolving the obscuring torus in NGC 1068 with the power of infrared interferometry: Revealing the inner funnel of dust
• Smooth and Clumpy Dust Distribution in AGN: a Direct Comparison of two Commonly Explored Infrared Emission Models
• Mapping the radial structure of AGN tori
• Molecular gas streamers feeding and obscuring the active nucleus of NGC1068
• The innermost dusty structure in active galactic nuclei as probed by the Keck interferometer
• Dynamics of Accretion Flows Irradiated by a Quasar
• Parsec-scale dust distributions in Seyfert galaxies - Results of the MIDI AGN snapshot survey
• An image of the dust sublimation region in the nucleus of NGC 1068
• Probing dark matter substructure in the gravitational lens HE0435-1223 with the WFC3 grism
• Revealing the large nuclear dust structures in NGC 1068 with MIDI/VLTI
• Dissecting the active galactic nucleus in Circinus -- I. Peculiar mid-IR morphology explained by a dusty hollow cone
• Exploring the inner region of Type 1 AGNs with the Keck interferometer
• A compendium of AGN inclinations with corresponding UV/optical continuum polarization measurements
• Probing spacetime foam with extragalactic sources
• Modeling the Dust Properties of z ~ 6 Quasars with ART^2 -- All-wavelength Radiative Transfer with Adaptive Refinement Tree
• Substructure in the lens HE 0435-1223
• Modeling the Nuclear Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution of Type II Active Galactic Nuclei
• A new analysis of the nucleus of NGC 1068 with MIDI observations
• Luminosity-variation independent location of the circum-nuclear, hot dust in NGC 4151
• Radiation-driven outflows from and radiative support in dusty tori of active galactic nuclei
• VLTI/AMBER observations of the Seyfert nucleus of NGC 3783
• The emission and distribution of dust of the torus of NGC 1068
• On the size-luminosity relation of AGN dust tori in the mid-infrared
• High-Spatial Resolution SED of NGC 1068 from Near-IR to Radio. Disentangling the thermal and non-thermal contributions
• Mid-infrared imaging of NGC1068 with VISIR at the VLT
• X-ray radiative transfer in full 3D with SKIRT
• Possible evidence for a common radial structure in nearby AGN tori
• The broad-line region and dust torus size of the Seyfert 1 galaxy PGC50427
• Probing the circumnuclear absorbing medium of the buried AGN in NGC 1068 through NuSTAR observations
• Imaging the heart of astrophysical objects with optical long-baseline interferometry
• An original interferometric study of NGC 1068 with VISIR BURST mode images
• Nuclear Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution of Type II Active Galactic Nuclei
• Parsec-scale obscuring accretion disk with large scale magnetic field in AGN
• Infrared Interferometry and AGNs: Parsec-scale Disks and Dusty Outflows
• The hot dust in the heart of NGC 1068's torus: A 3D radiative model constrained with GRAVITY/VLTi
• The complex infrared dust continuum emission of NGC1068: ground-based N- and Q-band spectroscopy and new radiative transfer models
• Origin of Warm High-Velocity Dense Gas in ULIRGs
• The Physical Properties of Galaxies with Unusually Red Mid-Infrared Colours
• New active galactic nuclei science cases with interferometry: An incomplete preview
• A recent history of science cases for interferometry
• Science with MATISSE