Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-09-29
Astrophysical Journal Letters 705 (2009) L53-L57
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/705/1/L53
We report mid-IR interferometric measurements with \sim 10 mas resolution, which resolve the warm (T = 285 +25 / -50 K) thermal emission at the center of NGC 4151. Using pairs of VLT 8.2 m telescopes with MIDI and by comparing the data to a Gaussian model, we determined the diameter of the dust emission region, albeit only along one position angle, to be 2.0 +/- 0.4 pc (FWHM). This is the first size and temperature estimate for the nuclear warm dust distribution in a Seyfert 1 galaxy. The parameters found are comparable to those in Seyfert 2 galaxies, thus providing direct support for the unified model. Using simple analytic temperature distributions, we find that the mid-infrared emission is probably not the smooth continuation of the hot nuclear source that is marginally resolved with K band interferometry. We also detected weak excess emission around 10.5 micron in our shorter baseline observation, possibly indicating that silicate emission is extended to the parsec scale.
Burtscher Leonard
Jaffe Walter
Meisenheimer Klaus
Raban David
Rottgering Huub
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