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SiO and H2O Masers in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Karl M. Menten  and
Mark J. Reid
Karl M. Menten
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Mark J. Reid
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

Abstract

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We have discovered maser emission from SiO and H2O molecules toward a number of evolved stars within the central parsec of our Galaxy. The maser positions can be registered with milliarcsecond precision relative to the radio continuum emission of the nonthermal Galactic center source Sgr A*. Since the masing stars are prominent infrared sources, our data can be used to locate the position of Sgr A* on infrared images of the Galactic center region. Using VLBA observations it will be possible to measure proper motions of the maser stars, which can be used to put constraints on the mass distribution in the central parsec.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 164: Radio Emission from Galactic and Extragalactic Compact Sources , 1998 , pp. 229 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1998

References

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