Guainazzi, M.M.GuainazziMatt, G.G.MattFiore, F.F.Fiore2020-09-172020-09-172001-10-01https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13025/85Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 327, Issue 1, pp. 323-328.We have studied the correlation among X-ray absorption, optical reddening and nuclear dust morphology in Seyfert 2 galaxies. Two main conclusions emerge (i) the Balmer decrement and the amount of X-ray absorption are anticorrelated over a wide range of column density, 10<SUP>21</SUP><~N<SUB>H</SUB><~10<SUP>24</SUP>cm<SUP>- 2</SUP> - the correlation no longer applies to Compton-thick objects (N<SUB>H</SUB>>~10<SUP>24</SUP>cm<SUP>-2</SUP>), although they span a comparable range in Balmer decrement; (ii) Compton-thin Seyfert 2s seem to prefer nuclear environments, which are rich in dust on scales of hundreds of parsecs. On the other hand, Compton-thick Seyferts indifferently exhibit `dust-poor' and `dust-rich' environments. These results support an extension of the Seyfert unification scenario (as recently proposed by Matt), where Compton-thick Seyfert 2s are observed through compact `torii', whereas Compton-thin ones are obscured by dust on much larger scales.GALAXIES ACTIVEGALAXIES ISMGALAXIES NUCLEIGALAXIES SEYFERTX-RAYS GALAXIES10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04710.xhttp://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001MNRAS.327..323G2001MNRAS.327..323G