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A Masing Event in the Cat’s Paw

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2018

G. MacLeod ,
D. Smits ,
S. Goedhart ,
S. Ellingsen ,
T. Hunter  and
C. Brogan
G. MacLeod
Affiliation:
Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 443, Krugersdorp, RSA 1740 email: gord@hartrao.ac.za
D. Smits
Affiliation:
Dept. of Mathematics, University of South Africa, RSA
S. Goedhart
Affiliation:
SKA SA, RSA
S. Ellingsen
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, U. of Tasmania, Australia
T. Hunter
Affiliation:
NRAO, USA
C. Brogan
Affiliation:
NRAO, USA
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Abstract

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We present Kitty, an unprecedented and near simultaneous flaring event in ten transitions (6 hydroxyl, 1 water and 3 methanol), that began on 1 January 2015 in the massive star-forming region NGC6334F located in the Cat’s Paw Nebula. The brightest components in each transition increased by factors of 20 to 70 in line with a factor of ~70 increase in dust emission luminosity for the source MM1. We also report the detection of only the fifth known 4.660 GHz hydroxyl maser and that it varied in a correlated fashion with 1.720, 6.031, and 6.035 GHz hydroxyl counterparts. We postulate that if Kitty, and two historical flares in 1965 & 1999, are accretion events and are caused by the successive passages of a secondary star disrupting the accretion disk, where the frequency of occurrence is cycling down at a rate of ~2.2, it is possible another event will occur in 2022.

Keywords

masersstars:formationradio lines:molecular:interstellar
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S336: Astrophysical Masers: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe , September 2017 , pp. 293 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

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