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V. Gorjian, M. Werner (JPL)
We present images from the JPL Mid-Infrared Camera (MIRLIN) on a group of nearby (z<0.03) Seyfert 1 galaxies which show no point source in their HST/WFPC2 visible wavelength images. Under current models, Seyfert 1 galaxies should provide a direct view of their central engine; hence, they should show a point source at the center of their host galaxy images. Seyfert 2's, on the other hand, should have obscured central engines and so should not show such a point source. Thus our sample of ``pointless'' Seyfert 1's do not match their expected morphologies. We used Mid-IR imaging from the ground, which has a comparable resolution to HST and is subject to minimal extinction, to try to detect dust-obscured point sources in Sy 1's with no optical point sources. If dust obscuration is indeed hiding the same type of active nucleus in both Sy 1's and Sy 2's, then these ``pointless'' Sy 1's will be the best place to look for such a dust-obscured point source.