THE ELUSIVE DUST TORUS OF NGC-1068 UNVEILED BY ADAPTIVE OPTICS OBSERVATIONS FROM 2.2 MU-M TO 4.8 MU-M

Near-infrared, adaptive optics observations of AGN achieve a spatial r esolution 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 mu m. These data show the presence of strong near-infrar ed emission within the central 100 pc around the nucleus. At the K, L and M bands, the dominant emission peak is unresolved at resolutions o f 35 pc (K), 15 pc (L) and 23 pc (M). We find that the emission peaks at 2.2, 3.5 and 4.8 mu m are offset by 0.3 +/- 0.1 '' south of the HST optical continuum peak. The infrared peaks are coincident with the HS T imaging polarimetry center thought to mark the hidden nucleus. We co nclude that the infrared emission peaks are also directly related with the hidden nucleus and that they outline the dusty torus around the c entral engine, as expected from current AGN models. From our first est imate of the fluxes in L and M, we derive a dust temperature of 750 K for the unresolved component.