The dusty heart of Circinus

Active galactic nuclei play a key role in the evolution of galaxies, but their inner workings and physical connection to host are poorly understood due lack angular resolution. Infrared interferometry makes it possible resolve circumnuclear dust nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy, Circinus. Previous observations have revealed complex structures polar emission interpretation was limited simple models. MATISSE image these for first time. We observed Circinus Galaxy with VLTI/MATISSE, producing 150 correlated flux spectra 100 closure phase spectra. reconstructed images N-band at ~10 mas fit blackbody functions extinction several aperture-extracted fluxes from produce temperature distribution central dusty structures. find significant substructure dust: unresolved ~0.5 Jy, thin disk 1.9 pc diameter oriented along ~45 deg,and ~4x1.5 extending orthogonal disk. The exhibits patchiness, which we attribute clumpy dust. Flux enhancements east west seen distinguish profiles emission: shows steep gradient indicative denser material; profile is flatter, indicating clumpiness and/or lower density. fitted high temperature, ~370 K. remains warm (~200 K) out 1.5 recovered morphology resembles modeling accretion disks radiation-driven winds large scales, placed new constraints on subparsec features imaged here place active galaxies.