Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999aas...19511509g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 195th AAS Meeting, #115.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 31, p.1544
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The brighter water masers of NGC 1068 appear to trace molecular gas in a parsec-scale disk surrounding the central engine. We find evidence that these masers are reverberating in response to a central, common pump source, presumably the central engine. Firstly, the luminosities of individual maser features are correlated on time-scales as fine as years, even though the dynamical time is 10000 years. Secondly, we have detected a simultaneous flare event among blueshifted masers and redshifted masers; the flare signal is symmetric in Doppler velocity about the systemic velocity of the galaxy. Thirdly, we present a model in which a 1988 X-ray flare of the central engine may have caused (1) the loss of maser signal over the period 1990--1991, and (2) a subsequent peak of emission from warm dust between 1994 and 1995. Although the present data are not sufficient to pin down an accurate, geometric distance measure, they favor a distance of 18 Mpc to NGC 1068. We demonstrate how further monitoring may provide a more accurate distance measurement.
Almudena Prieto M.
Baum Stefi A.
Claussen Mark
Gallimore Jack F.
Glass S000. I.
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