Resolving the nuclear dust distribution of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3081

Ramos Almeida, C.; Sánchez-Portal, M.; Pérez-García, A. M.; Acosta-Pulido, J. A.; Castillo, M.; Asensio-Ramos, A.; González-Serrano, J. I.; Alonso-Herrero, A.; Rodríguez-Espinosa, J. M.; Hatziminaoglou, E.; Coia, D.; Valtchanov, I.; Pović, M.; Esquej, P.; Packham, C.; Altieri, B.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 417, Issue 1, pp. L46-L50.

Advertised on:
10
2011
Number of authors
16
IAC number of authors
4
Citations
23
Refereed citations
22
Description
We report far-infrared (FIR) imaging of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3081 in the range 70-500 μm, obtained with an unprecedented angular resolution, using the Herschel Space Observatory instruments PACS and SPIRE. The 11 kpc (˜70 arcsec) diameter star-forming ring of the galaxy appears resolved up to 250 μm. We extracted IR (1.6-500 μm) nuclear fluxes, that is active nucleus-dominated fluxes, and fitted them with clumpy torus models, which successfully reproduce the FIR emission with small torus sizes. Adding the FIR data to the near- and mid-IR spectral energy distribution (SED) results in a torus radial extent of Ro= 4+2- 1 pc, as well as in a flat radial distribution of the clouds (i.e. the q parameter). At wavelengths beyond 200 μm, cold dust emission at T= 28 ± 1 K from the circumnuclear star-forming ring of 2.3 kpc (˜15 arcsec) in diameter starts making a contribution to the nuclear emission. The dust in the outer parts of the galaxy is heated by the interstellar radiation field (19 ± 3 K).
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