  A subparsec-scale dense plasma torus around an active galactic nucleus (AGN)
is unveiled. We report on very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations
at 2.3, 8.4, and 15.4 GHz towards the active galaxy NGC 1052. The convex
spectra of the double-sided jets and the nucleus imply that synchrotron
emission is obscured through free--free absorption (FFA) by the foreground cold
dense plasma. A trichromatic image was produced to illustrate the distribution
of the FFA opacity. We found a central condensation of the plasma which covers
about 0.1 pc and 0.7 pc of the approaching and receding jets, respectively. A
simple explanation for the asymmetric distribution is the existence of a thick
plasma torus perpendicular to the jets. We also found an ambient FFA absorber,
whose density profile can be ascribed to a spherical distribution of the
isothermal King model. The coexistence of torus-like and spherical
distributions of the plasma suggests a transition from radial accretion to
rotational accretion around the nucleus.

Astrophysics