We report the detection of a rapid occultation event in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 6814, simultaneously captured in a transient light curve and spectral variability. The intensity and hardness ratio curves capture distinct ingress and egress periods that are symmetric in duration. Independent of the selected continuum model, the changes can be simply described by varying the fraction of the central engine that is covered by transiting obscuring gas. Together, the spectral and timing analyses self-consistently reveal the properties of the obscuring gas, its location to be in the broad-line region, and the size of the X-ray source to be ∼ 25 r _g. Our results demonstrate that obscuration close to massive black holes can shape their appearance, and can be harnessed to measure the active region that surrounds the event horizon.

我们报告了在附近的 Seyfert 星系 NGC 6814 中检测到快速掩星事件，同时在瞬态光曲线和光谱变化中捕获。强度和硬度比曲线捕获了持续时间对称的不同入口和出口周期。独立于所选的连续模型，可以通过改变被过渡的模糊气体覆盖的中央发动机的比例来简单地描述变化。总之，光谱和时间分析自洽地揭示了模糊气体的性质，它的位置在宽线区域，X射线源的尺寸为~25 r _g. 我们的结果表明，靠近大质量黑洞的遮挡可以塑造它们的外观，并且可以用来测量事件视界周围的活动区域。