The near-infrared spectrum of Mrk 1239: direct evidence of the dusty torus?
| Autor: | X. Mazzalay, Alberto Rodríguez-Ardila |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Star formation Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Astrophysics (astro-ph) Near-infrared spectroscopy FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Torus Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics Polarization (waves) Galaxy Space and Planetary Science Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Sublimation (phase transition) Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Emission spectrum Spectroscopy Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics |
| Zdroj: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 367:L57-L61 |
| ISSN: | 1745-3933 1745-3925 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00139.x |
| Popis: | We report 0.8-4.5 micron SpeX spectroscopy of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk1239. The spectrum is outstanding because the nuclear continuum emission in the near-infrared is dominated by a strong bump of emission peaking at 2.2 micron, with a strength not reported before in an AGN. A comparison of the Mrk1239 spectrum to that of Ark564 allowed us to conclude that the continuum is strongly reddened by E(B-V)=0.54. The excess of emission, confirmed by aperture photometry and additional NIR spectroscopy, follows a simple blackbody curve at T=1200 K. This suggest that we may be observing direct evidence of dust heated near to the sublimation temperature, likely produced by the putative torus of the unification model. Although other alternatives are also plausible, the lack of star formation, the strong polarization and low extinction derived for the emission lines support the scenario where the hot dust is located between the narrow line region and the broad line region. 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to MNRAS letters |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Plný text