Abstract
Most of the extended mid-infrared emission in NGC 1068 arises from two regions displaced along the radio axis (radius ≈1 kpc; 15″ and coincident with molecular cloud concentrations on either side of the active nucleus. Many authors have shown that the Seyfert nucleus is radiating anisotropically along this same axis. The authors investigate the possibility that the extended mid-infrared emission arises from nuclear X-ray heating of dust grains on the surface of molecular clouds. In this event, the models provide constraints on the nuclear ionizing luminosity and on the fraction of energy at UV wavelengths.
