TWO-DIMENSIONAL MAPPING OF YOUNG STARS IN THE INNER 180 pc OF NGC 1068: CORRELATION WITH MOLECULAR GAS RING AND STELLAR KINEMATICS
- Departamento de Astronomia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, IF, CP 15051, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)
- Departamento de Fisica, Centro de Ciencias Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS (Brazil)
We report the first two-dimensional mapping of the stellar population and non-stellar continua within the inner 180 pc (radius) of NGC 1068 at a spatial resolution of 8 pc, using integral field spectroscopy in the near-infrared. We have applied the technique of spectral synthesis to data obtained with the instrument NIFS and the adaptive optics module ALTAIR at the Gemini North Telescope. Two episodes of recent star formation are found to dominate the stellar population contribution: the first occurred 300 Myr ago, extending over most of the nuclear region; the second occurred just 30 Myr ago, in a ring-like structure at Almost-Equal-To 100 pc from the nucleus, where it is coincident with an expanding ring of H{sub 2} emission. Inside the ring, where a decrease in the stellar velocity dispersion is observed, the stellar population is dominated by the 300 Myr age component. In the inner 35 pc, the oldest age component (age {>=} 2 Gyr) dominates the mass, while the flux is dominated by blackbody components with temperatures in the range 700 K {<=} T {<=} 800 K which we attribute to the dusty torus. We also find some contribution from blackbody and power-law components beyond the nucleus which we attribute to dust emission and scattered light.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039110
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 755, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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