Observations of SiO Maser Sources within a Few Parsec from the Galactic Center
Abstract
Mapping and monitoring observations of SiO maser sources near the Galactic center were made with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope at 43GHz. Rectangular mapping an area of approximately 200'' × 100'' in a 30'' grid, and triangular mapping in a 20'' grid toward the Galactic center, resulted in 15 detections of SiO sources; the positions of the sources were obtained with errors of 5-10'', except for a few weak sources. Three-year monitoring observations found that the component at Vlsr = -27km s-1 of IRS 10 EE flared to about 1.5Jy during 2000 March-May, which was a factor of more than 5 brighter than its normal intensity. Using the radial velocities and positions of the SiO sources, we identified 5 which are counterparts of previously observed OH 1612MHz sources. The other 10 SiO sources have no OH counterparts, but two were previously detected with VLA, and four are located close to the positions of large-amplitude variables observed at near-in frared wavelengths. A least-squares fit to a plot of velocities versus Galactic longitudes gives a rather high speed for the rotation of the star cluster around the Galactic center. The observed radial-velocity dispersion is roughly consistent with a value obtained before. It was found that all of the SiO sources with OH 1612MHz counterparts have periods of light variation longer than 450days, while SiO sources without OH masers often have periods shorter than 450days. This fact suggests that lower-mass AGB stars are more often detected in SiO masers than in the OH 1612MHz line.
- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
- Pub Date:
- February 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1093/pasj/54.1.61
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0201077
- Bibcode:
- 2002PASJ...54...61D
- Keywords:
-
- GALAXY: CENTER;
- GALAXY: NUCLEUS;
- MASERS;
- STARS: LATE-TYPE;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 9 pages, 7 figures. PASJ 54, No. 1 (2002) in press