1999ApJ...520..130W

We examine the 0.1-10.0 keV X-ray spectrum of the bright nuclear LINER galaxy NGC 1052, one of two elliptical galaxies known to contain a luminous H₂O maser. The observed 2.0-10.0 keV spectrum is unusually flat (photon index Γ∼0.2) and is best described as intrinsically power-law shaped nuclear flux that is either (1) attenuated by a complex absorber with ∼70% of the nuclear flux absorbed by a column density of N_H∼3x10²³ cm^–2 and ∼30% absorbed by a column density of N_H∼3-5x10²² cm^–2 or (2) reprocessed, with the nuclear source blocked and the X-rays Compton reflected in our direction by high column density (≥10²⁴ cm^–2) gas. The moderate equivalent width of the Fe Kα line favors the dual absorption model as the most likely scenario. The 0.1-2.0 keV spectrum does not resemble the few times 10⁶-10⁷ K thermal emission typically found in other elliptical galaxies, but instead is best described as nuclear X-rays leaking through a patchy absorber or scattered in our direction by low-density, ionized gas plus a 15%-20% contribution from a thermal component, which is most likely due to the galaxy. The absorption-corrected 2-10 keV luminosity of the nuclear source is L_X∼8x10⁴¹ ergs.s^–1 or L_X∼2x10⁴³ ergs.s^–1 for the dual-absorption and Compton-reflection models, respectively. The absorbing and H₂O masing gases appear to be spatially separate in this galaxy.