The jet driven motions in the Narrow Line Region of NGC 1068

We have obtained RST FOC f/48 long-slit spectroscopy of the central 2 arcseconds of the Narrow Line Region of NGC 1068 between 3500-5400 Angstrom with a spectral resolution of 1.78 Angstrom/pixel. At a spatial scale of 0 ''.0287 per pixel these data provide an order of magnitude improvement in resolution over previous ground based spectra and allow us to trace the interaction between the radio jet and the gas in the NLR. Our results show that, within +/-0 ''.5 of the radio-jet the emission lines are split into two components whose velocity separation is 1500 km s(-1). The emission line structure is reminiscent of that seen previously around the jet of 3C120. Furthermore, this material enveloping the radio-jet is in a much higher ionization state than that of the surrounding NLR gas. The highest excitation is coincident with the jet axis where emission in the coronal line of [FeVII] lambda 3769 Angstrom is detected but where [OII] lambda 3727 Angstrom is depressed. These results imply that we are witnessing a cocoon of hot gas in expansion around the radio-jet created by its interaction with the gas, and that these shocks are sufficiently fast, at least +/-700 km s(-1), that they are cresting localized ionization effects.