| 摘 要： | Near-infrared, adaptive optics observations of AGN achieve a spatial resolution comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. Using the ESO adaptive optics system, we have mapped the nuclear region of NGC 1068 in the near-infrared at 2.2, 3.5 and 4.8 μm. These data show the presence of strong near-infrared emission within the central 100 pc around the nucleus. At the K, L and M bands, the dominant emission peak is unresolved at resolutions of 35 pc (K), 15 pc (L) and 23 pc (M). We find that the emission peaks at 2.2, 3.5 and 4.8 μm are offset by 0.3±0.1" south of the HST optical continuum peak. The infrared peaks are coincident with the HST imaging polarimetry center thought to mark the hidden nucleus. We conclude that the infrared emission peaks are also directly related with the hidden nucleus and that they outline the dusty torus around the central engine, as expected from current AGN models. From our first estimate of the fluxes in L and M, we derive a dust temperature of 750 K for the unresolved component. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.
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