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Water Masers In W49n - The Youngest Stellar Jet?, Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, Moshe Elitzur

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Observations by Gwinn, Moran, and Reid of the proper motions of water masers in W49N show that they have an elongated distribution expanding from a common center. Features with high space velocity only occur far from the center, while low-velocity features occur at all distances. It is proposed that water masers in star-forming regions occur in expanding shells swept up by high-velocity winds from young, massive stars during the early phases of the expansion. In W49N, confinement of the bubble by a density distribution with an axial cavity can explain both the velocity field and the shape of the maser …