2008ApJ...680..191S

We present multifrequency simultaneous VLBA observations at 15, 22, and 43 GHz toward the nucleus of the nearby radio galaxy NGC 1052. These three continuum images reveal a double-sided jet structure whose relative intensity ratios imply that the jet axis is oriented close to the sky plane. The steeply rising spectra at 15-43 GHz at the inner edges of the jets strongly suggest that synchrotron emission is absorbed by foreground thermal plasma. We detected H₂ O maser emission in the velocity range of 1550-1850 km/s, which is redshifted by 50-350 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of NGC 1052. The redshifted maser gas appears projected against both sides of the jet, in the same manner as the H I seen in absorption. The H₂ O maser gas is located where the free-free absorption opacity is large. This probably implies that the masers in NGC 1052 are associated with a circumnuclear torus or disk as in the nucleus of NGC 4258. Such circumnuclear structure could be the source of accretion onto the central engine.