Dust emission from a parsec-scale structure in the Seyfert 1 nucleus of
  NGC 4151
  We report mid-IR interferometric measurements with \sim 10 mas resolution,
which resolve the warm (T = 285 +25 / -50 K) thermal emission at the center of
NGC 4151. Using pairs of VLT 8.2 m telescopes with MIDI and by comparing the
data to a Gaussian model, we determined the diameter of the dust emission
region, albeit only along one position angle, to be 2.0 +/- 0.4 pc (FWHM). This
is the first size and temperature estimate for the nuclear warm dust
distribution in a Seyfert 1 galaxy. The parameters found are comparable to
those in Seyfert 2 galaxies, thus providing direct support for the unified
model. Using simple analytic temperature distributions, we find that the
mid-infrared emission is probably not the smooth continuation of the hot
nuclear source that is marginally resolved with K band interferometry. We also
detected weak excess emission around 10.5 micron in our shorter baseline
observation, possibly indicating that silicate emission is extended to the
parsec scale.
