dc.contributor.author | Gallimore, Jack | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Baum, Stefi | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | O'Dea, Christopher | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2006-05-23T14:02:59Z | en_US |
dc.date.available | 2006-05-23T14:02:59Z | en_US |
dc.date.issued | 1997-08-28 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Nature 388 (1997) 852-854 | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0028-0836 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1850/1856 | en_US |
dc.description | RIT community members may access full-text via RIT Libraries licensed databases: http://library.rit.edu/databases/ | |
dc.description.abstract | Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are generally accepted to be powered by the release of gravitational energy in a compact accretion disk surrounding a massive black hole. Such disks are also necessary to collimate powerful radio jets seen in some AGN. The unifying classification schemes for AGN further propose that differences in their appearance can be attributed to the opacity of the accreting material, which may obstruct our view of the central region of some systems. The popular model for the obscuring medium is a parsec-scale disk of dense molecular gas, although evidence for such disks has been mostly indirect, as their angular size is much smaller than the resolution of conventional telescopes. Here we report the first direct images of a pc-scale disk of ionised gas within the nucleus of NGC 1068, the archetype of obscured AGN. The disk is viewed nearly edge-on, and individual clouds within the ionised disk are opaque to high-energy radiation, consistent with the unifying classification scheme. In projection, the disk and AGN axes align, from which we infer that the ionised gas disk traces the outer regions of the long-sought inner accretion disk. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | The VLBA and VLA are operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory which is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. J.F.G. received support from a Collaborative Visitor’s Grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
We also acknowledge useful suggestions from an anonymous referee which helped to
clarify the text. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 350766 bytes | en_US |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | Nature | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | vol. 388 | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartofseries | no. 6645 | en_US |
dc.subject | Galaxies - nuclei | en_US |
dc.title | A direct image of the obscuring disk surrounding an active galactic nucleus | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.identifier.url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/42201 | |