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Short time variability of the water masers in W51M

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Abstract

We report the results of a month long program of daily observationsconducted to study the short-term variability of the H2O maseremission from W51M. During the period of our experiment, we observedsignificant changes in the flux density of some maser features, but no driftin the velocity of any feature. The flux density of a feature at 82.8 kms-1 declined from 1140 Jy to 152 Jy over the month-long monitoringprogram. We tentatively conclude that this variation may be caused byenhanced interstellar scintillation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, P.R. China

    Jianjun Zhou & Xingwu Zheng

  2. Urumqi Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, P.R. China

    Jianjun Zhou

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  1. Jianjun Zhou
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  2. Xingwu Zheng
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Zhou, J., Zheng, X. Short time variability of the water masers in W51M. Astrophysics and Space Science 275, 431–439 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002816524667

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