The structure of interstellar hydroxyl masers: VLBI synthesis observations of W3(OH)

Journal Article · Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/158092· OSTI ID:6757477

Reid, M J; Haschick, A D; Burke, B F; Moran, J M; Johnston, K J; Swenson, Jr, G W

We have conducted an eight station, very long baseline interferometric (VLBI) experiment to produce spectral-line synthesis maps of the hydroxyl (OH) maser emission from regions of active star formation (i.e., interstellar OH masers). In this paper we report on the observations of W3(OH) for which data from 13 baselines were correlated and calibrated. The observations are well distributed over the (u,v)-plane, allowing the source brightness distribution to be recovered by Fourier inversion of the interferometric data. In this manner the maser emission from the 1665 MHz OH transition toward W3(OH) has been mapped with a synthesized beam of 0''.01 and with a spectral resolution of 0.14 km s/sup -1/. This map is complete in the velocity range of -50 to -41 km s/sup -1/ to a limiting sensitivity of 5 Jy.

• Research Organization: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• OSTI ID: 6757477
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Vol. 239:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
H2 REGIONS
HYDROXYL RADICALS
INTERFEROMETRY
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
DATA ANALYSIS
EMISSION
MASERS
MOLECULES
NEBULAE
RADIAL VELOCITY
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STAR ACCRETION
ZEEMAN EFFECT
AMPLIFIERS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
MICROWAVE AMPLIFIERS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
RADICALS
SPACE
STAR EVOLUTION
VELOCITY
640105* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Galaxies