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Title:
The Discovery of Water Masers in Nearby Star-Forming Galaxies
Authors:
Darling, Jeremiah K.; Brogan, C.; Johnson, K.
Affiliation:
AA(Univ. of Colorado, Boulder), AB(National Radio Astronomy Observatory), AC(Univ. of Virginia)
Publication:
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #445.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.328
Publication Date:
01/2009
Origin:
AAS
Bibliographic Code:
2009AAS...21344501D

Abstract

We present the discovery of 22 GHz water masers in four nearby galaxies hosting ultradense HII (UDHII) regions: He 2-10, the Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/4039), NGC 4214, and NGC 5253. Our detection rate is 100%, and all of these water ``kilomasers'' (LH2O < 10 LSun) are located toward regions of known star formation as traced by UDHII regions and bright 24 μm emission. Some of the newly discovered water masers have luminosities 1-2 orders of magnitude less than previous extragalactic studies and the same order of magnitude as those typical of Galactic massive star-forming regions. The unusual success of this Green Bank Telescope minisurvey suggests that water maser emission may be very common in starburst galaxies, and the paucity of detections to date is due to a lack of sufficient sensitivity. While the galaxy sample was selected by the presence of UDHII regions, and the UDHII regions lie within the telescope beam, in the absence of H2O spectral line maps the connection between water masers and UDHII regions has not yet been demonstrated. Interferometric mapping of the Antennae in the water line is underway at the Very Large Array to assess the connection between water masers and UDHII regions.
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