The Innermost Region of the Active Galaxy NGC 1068

New insight into the central region of the active galaxy NGC 1068, at increasing magnification. Image a (left) is a colour composite of NGC 1068, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST); showing stellar light in blue, oxygen ionized by the active nucleus in yellow, and inonized hydrogen in red. Image b (middle) is a VLTI image by MIDI at wavelength 8.7 ��m, penetrating the dust cloud and showing the central structures in great detail. Image c (right) is a sketch of the dust structure of the innermost region. It contains a central hot component (at least 500��C; yellow), marginally resolved by the VLTI observations in the North-South direction (i.e. in the vertical direction in this image). It is surrounded by a larger warm component (~50��, red) that is well resolved. The arrows at the upper left indicate the directions of the two VLTI baselines and the corresponding resolution (image sharpness) at the central observed wavelength (10.5 ��m).