Zw 15107 + 0724 and the family of OH megamasers

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/165531· OSTI ID:5775946

Baan, W A; Henkel, C; Haschick, A D

The galaxy Zw 15107 + 0724 exhibits broad H I absorption at its systematic velocity of 3902 km/s and emission in the two main ground-state transitions of OH. The isotropic luminosity of the 1667 MHz OH emission line is 10.8 solar, which makes it the weakest megamaser yet found. The optical depth of the OH line is approximately -0.37. An assessment of the infrared properties of OH megamasers indicates that these sources have an approximately thermal IR spectrum with a temperature between 50 and 90 K. The OH absorbing galaxies, which have an edge-on molecular disk as do the megamaser galaxies, do not distinguish themselves significantly from a much larger sample of strong infrared sources. Megamaser galaxies appear to be a very early phase of Seyfert 2 or H II nuclear activity, when much dust is still present close to the nucleus. 28 references.

• Research Organization: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany, F.R.; Haystack Observatory, Westford, MA
• OSTI ID: 5775946
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 320; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLIFIERS
CLASSIFICATION
COSMIC GASES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EMISSION SPECTRA
EQUIPMENT
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
GASES
H1 REGIONS
HYDROXYL RADICALS
INFRARED RADIATION
MASERS
MICROWAVE AMPLIFIERS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
RADIATIONS
RADICALS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SEYFERT GALAXIES
SPECTRA