A Compton thick AGN in the barred spiral NGC 4785
  We present X-ray observations of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC
4785. The source is a local Seyfert 2 which has not been studied so far in much
detail. It was recently detected with high significance in the 15-60 keV band
in the 66 month Swift/BAT all sky survey, but there have been no prior pointed
X-ray observations of this object. With Suzaku, we clearly detect the source
below 10 keV, and find it to have a flat continuum and prominent neutral iron
fluorescence line with equivalent width >~1 keV. Fitting the broadband spectra
with physical reflection models shows the source to be a bona fide Compton
thick AGN with Nh of at least 2x10^{24} cm^{-2} and absorption-corrected 2-10
keV X-ray power L(2-10) ~ few times 10^{42} erg s^{-1}. Realistic uncertainties
on L(2-10) computed from the joint confidence interval on the intrinsic power
law continuum photon index and normalization are at least a factor of 10. The
local bona fide Compton thick AGN population is highly heterogeneous in terms
of WISE mid-infrared source colours, and the nucleus of NGC 4785 appears
especially sub-dominant in the mid-infrared when comparing to other Compton
thick AGN. Such sources would not be easily found using mid-infrared selection
alone. The extent of host galaxy extinction to the nucleus is not clear, though
NGC 4785 shows a complex core with a double bar and inner disk, adding to the
list of known Compton thick AGN in barred host galaxies.
