An Image of the Dust Sublimation Region in the Nucleus of NGC 1068

GRAVITY Collaboration; Abuter, R.; Accardo, M.; Adler, T.; Amorim, A.; Anugu, N.; Ávila, G.; Bauböck, M.; Benisty, M.; Berger, J. -P.; Bestenlehner, J. M.; Beust, H.; Blind, N.; Bonnefoy, M.; Bonnet, H.; Bourget, P.; Bouvier, J.; Brandner, W.; Brast, R.; Buron, A.; Burtscher, L.; Cantalloube, F.; Caratti O Garatti, A.; Caselli, P.; Cassaing, F.; Chapron, F.; Charnay, B.; Choquet, É.; Clénet, Y.; Collin, C.; Coudé Du Foresto, V.; Davies, R.; Deen, C.; Delplancke-Ströbele, F.; Dembet, R.; Derie, F.; de Wit, W. -J.; Dexter, J.; de Zeeuw, T.; Dougados, C.; Dubus, G.; Duvert, G.; Ebert, M.; Eckart, A.; Eisenhauer, F.; Esselborn, M.; Eupen, F.; Fédou, P.; Ferreira, M. C.; Finger, G.; Förster Schreiber, N. M.; Gao, F.; García Dabó, C. E.; Garcia Lopez, R.; Garcia, P. J. V.; Gendron, É.; Genzel, R.; Gerhard, O.; Gil, J. P.; Gillessen, S.; Gonté, F.; Gordo, P.; Gratadour, D.; Greenbaum, A.; Grellmann, R.; Grözinger, U.; Guajardo, P.; Guieu, S.; Habibi, M.; Haguenauer, P.; Hans, O.; Haubois, X.; Haug, M.; Haußmann, F.; Henning, T.; Hippler, S.; Hönig, S. F.; Horrobin, M.; Huber, A.; Hubert, Z.; Hubin, N.; Hummel, C. A.; Jakob, G.; Janssen, A.; Jimenez Rosales, A.; Jochum, L.; Jocou, L.; Kammerer, J.; Karl, M.; Kaufer, A.; Kellner, S.; Kendrew, S.; Kern, L.; Kervella, P.; Kiekebusch, M.; Kishimoto, M.; Klarmann, L.; Klein, R.; Köhler, R.; Kok, Y. et al.
Bibliographical reference

The Messenger

Advertised on:
12
2019
Number of authors
199
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
2
Refereed citations
2
Description
The superb resolution of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and the unrivalled sensitivity of GRAVITY have allowed us to reconstruct the first detailed image of the dust sublimation region in an active galaxy. In the nearby archetypal Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, the 2 µm continuum emission traces a highly inclined thin ring-like structure with a radius of 0.24 pc. The observed morphology challenges the picture of a geometrically and optically thick torus.