We present a complete analysis of the hard X-ray ( 2-10 keV ) properties of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1365 , based on a 60 ks XMM-Newton observation performed in January 2004 .
The two main results are : 1 ) We detect an obscuring cloud with N _ { H } \sim 3.5 \times 10 ^ { 23 } cm ^ { -2 } crossing the line of sight in \sim 25 ks .
This implies a dimension of the X-ray source not larger than a few 10 ^ { 13 } cm and a distance of the obscuring cloud of the order of 10 ^ { 16 } cm .
Adopting the black hole mass M _ { BH } estimated from the M _ { BH } –velocity dispersion relation , the source size is D _ { S } < 20 ~ { } R _ { G } and the distance and density of the obscuring clouds are R \sim 3000 - 10000 ~ { } R _ { G } and n \sim 10 ^ { 10 } cm ^ { -3 } , i.e .
typical values for broad line region clouds .
2 ) An iron emission line with a relativistic profile is detected with high statistical significance .
A time integrated fit of the line+continuum reflection components suggests a high iron abundance ( \sim 3 times solar ) and an origin of these components in the inner part ( within \sim 10 ~ { } R _ { G } ) of the accretion disk , in agreement with the small source size inferred from the analysis of the absorption variability .