STEPS TOWARD DETERMINATION OF THE SIZE AND STRUCTURE OF THE BROAD-LINE REGION IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI - XIV - INTENSIVE OPTICAL SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC OBSERVATIONS OF NGC-7469

We present results of an intensive 2 month campaign of ground-based sp ectrophotometric monitoring of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 7469, with a t emporal resolution less than or similar to 1 day. The broad Ha and HE emission lines respond to similar to 35% ultraviolet continuum variati ons with an amplitude of similar to 10% and time delays of 5.6 +/- 1.3 days and 5.4 +/- 0.8 days, respectively. We interpret this as evidenc e of variable Balmer line gas similar to 5-6 light days from the centr al source in this object, widely believed to be a supermassive black h ole. The virial mass of the central source implied by line widths and time delays is similar to 10(6)-10(7) M-.. Concomitantly, we find evid ence for wavelength-dependent continuum time delays: optical continuum variations lag those at 1315 Angstrom by 1.0 +/- 0.3 days at 4865 Ang strom to 1.5 +/- 0.7 days at 6962 Angstrom. This suggests a stratified continuum reprocessing region extending several light days from the c entral source, possibly an accretion disk.