An h2o maser near sagittarius a east: Evidence for active massive star formation near the galactic center

Farhad Yusef-Zadeh; David M. Mehringer

doi:10.1086/309698

An h₂o maser near sagittarius a east: Evidence for active massive star formation near the galactic center

Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, David M. Mehringer

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the results of an H₂O maser search of six fields in the inner 5' of the Galactic center using the Very Large Array (VLA) in its DnC configuration. Four new H₂O masers are detected with typical luminosities of order 10^-7L〇. Three of the masers are associated with evolved stars and one with the Sgr A East H II region, which is identified as the closest active star-forming region to the Galactic center. This H II region and its associated H₂O maser lie at the boundary between the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) source (Sgr A East) and an adjacent +50 km s^-1 molecular cloud.Evidence that the pressure wave of the Sgr A East supernova explosion has reached the H II region is given by presenting a radio continuum image of Sgr A East at λ = 20 cm, and it is argued that the expanding SNR is inducing high-mass star formation. The possibility is considered that weak H₂O masers, like the 1720 MHz OH masers found at the boundary of the W28 SNR and an adjacent molecular cloud, may also be used as a probe of massive star formation induced by the interaction of an expanding SNR and molecular clouds.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	L37-L40
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	452
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/309698
State	Published - Oct 10 1995

Funding

We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments. D. M. M. acknowledges support from the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging at the University of Illinois and NSF grant AST 93-20239. F. Y. was supported by NASA grant NAGW-2518.

Keywords

Galaxies: ISM
Galaxy: Center
ISM: Individual (Sagittarius A East)
Masers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1086/309698

Cite this

@article{e31bb321a0974f68a06383041dde81a1,

title = "An h2o maser near sagittarius a east: Evidence for active massive star formation near the galactic center",

abstract = "We present the results of an H2O maser search of six fields in the inner 5' of the Galactic center using the Very Large Array (VLA) in its DnC configuration. Four new H2O masers are detected with typical luminosities of order 10-7L〇. Three of the masers are associated with evolved stars and one with the Sgr A East H II region, which is identified as the closest active star-forming region to the Galactic center. This H II region and its associated H2O maser lie at the boundary between the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) source (Sgr A East) and an adjacent +50 km s-1 molecular cloud.Evidence that the pressure wave of the Sgr A East supernova explosion has reached the H II region is given by presenting a radio continuum image of Sgr A East at λ = 20 cm, and it is argued that the expanding SNR is inducing high-mass star formation. The possibility is considered that weak H2O masers, like the 1720 MHz OH masers found at the boundary of the W28 SNR and an adjacent molecular cloud, may also be used as a probe of massive star formation induced by the interaction of an expanding SNR and molecular clouds.",

keywords = "Galaxies: ISM, Galaxy: Center, ISM: Individual (Sagittarius A East), Masers",

author = "Farhad Yusef-Zadeh and Mehringer, {David M.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments. D. M. M. acknowledges support from the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging at the University of Illinois and NSF grant AST 93-20239. F. Y. was supported by NASA grant NAGW-2518.",

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AU - Yusef-Zadeh, Farhad

AU - Mehringer, David M.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments. D. M. M. acknowledges support from the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging at the University of Illinois and NSF grant AST 93-20239. F. Y. was supported by NASA grant NAGW-2518.

PY - 1995/10/10

Y1 - 1995/10/10

N2 - We present the results of an H2O maser search of six fields in the inner 5' of the Galactic center using the Very Large Array (VLA) in its DnC configuration. Four new H2O masers are detected with typical luminosities of order 10-7L〇. Three of the masers are associated with evolved stars and one with the Sgr A East H II region, which is identified as the closest active star-forming region to the Galactic center. This H II region and its associated H2O maser lie at the boundary between the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) source (Sgr A East) and an adjacent +50 km s-1 molecular cloud.Evidence that the pressure wave of the Sgr A East supernova explosion has reached the H II region is given by presenting a radio continuum image of Sgr A East at λ = 20 cm, and it is argued that the expanding SNR is inducing high-mass star formation. The possibility is considered that weak H2O masers, like the 1720 MHz OH masers found at the boundary of the W28 SNR and an adjacent molecular cloud, may also be used as a probe of massive star formation induced by the interaction of an expanding SNR and molecular clouds.

AB - We present the results of an H2O maser search of six fields in the inner 5' of the Galactic center using the Very Large Array (VLA) in its DnC configuration. Four new H2O masers are detected with typical luminosities of order 10-7L〇. Three of the masers are associated with evolved stars and one with the Sgr A East H II region, which is identified as the closest active star-forming region to the Galactic center. This H II region and its associated H2O maser lie at the boundary between the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) source (Sgr A East) and an adjacent +50 km s-1 molecular cloud.Evidence that the pressure wave of the Sgr A East supernova explosion has reached the H II region is given by presenting a radio continuum image of Sgr A East at λ = 20 cm, and it is argued that the expanding SNR is inducing high-mass star formation. The possibility is considered that weak H2O masers, like the 1720 MHz OH masers found at the boundary of the W28 SNR and an adjacent molecular cloud, may also be used as a probe of massive star formation induced by the interaction of an expanding SNR and molecular clouds.

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