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3.33. A close look at NGC1068 by adaptive optics: dust torus and micro-spiral structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

Daniel Rouan
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, F92195, Meudon, France
Olivier Lai
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, F92195, Meudon, France
Danielle Alloin
Affiliation:
SAp-CEA Saclay, F91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
Francois Rigaut
Affiliation:
CFHT, Kamuela, Hawaii, 96743, USA

Extract

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As the closest Seyfert nucleus, NGC 1068 is a key object to establish on firm grounds the model of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Two important questions relative to AGNs are : i) can we actually see the parsec-scale torus of dust and molecular gas around the central engine predicted by the popular Unified Model model (e.g. Antonucci, 1993)?; ii) how the gas is brought down to the parsec scale to feed the monster, and, in particular, is there a micro spiral/bar system that could produce the required torque ? Adaptive Optics in the near-IR has potential advantages to make a significant progress in those two questions : the low dust opacity and the excellent angular resolution.

Type
Part I. Stellar Cluster, Star Formation
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1998 

References

Antonucci, R., 1993, ARAA 31, 473521.Google Scholar
Combes, F., 1994, in “The formation and Evolution of Galaxies”, Munõz, C. & Sanchez, F. Eds.Google Scholar
Gallimore, J.F., Baum, S.A., D'Dea, C.P., 1997, preprint (web site).Google Scholar
Rigaut, F., Arsenault, R., Kerr, J., et al.,1995, SPIE Conference Proceedings, Vol. 2201, p. 149.Google Scholar