High Spatial Resolution HST/NICMOS Observations of Markarian 231

Abstract

Observations of Markarian 231 at 1.1 microns taken with NICMOS on the Hubble Space Telescope are described. The brightness of the object in the near infrared and the inherent short-term stability of the NICMOS optical and instrumental system enables application of special observational and analysis techniques that effectively increase high spatial resolution. By these means, we set an upper limit on the size of the core of the AGN nucleus at 8 mas corresponding to a radial projected distance from the center of MArkarian 231 of ~ 3pc.