Water Maser Kinematics in the Jet of OH 12.8-0.9
Abstract
We present Very Long Baseline Array observations of the kinematics of the water masers associated with OH 12.8-0.9, the fourth member of the so-called water-fountain class of sources. We find that the masers occupy two distinct regions at the ends of a bipolar jetlike structure oriented north-south, with the blue-shifted masers located to the north and the red-shifted masers to the south. The masers are distributed along arc-like structures 12-20 mas across that are oriented perpendicular to the separation axis with an angular separation of ~110 mas on the sky. Our multi-epoch observations show the two maser arcs to be expanding away from each other along the axis of separation. The relative proper motions of the two maser regions is 2.7 mas yr-1 (~105 km s-1 at the assumed distance of 8 kpc). The measured radial velocity difference between the northern blue-shifted masers and the southern red-shifted masers is 48.4 km s-1. The radial velocity, when combined with the proper motion, yields a three-dimensional expansion velocity of 58 km s-1 and an inclination angle of 24-deg for the jet. By combining our radial velocities with historical values, we estimate the three-dimensional acceleration of the masers to be ~0.63 km s-1 yr-1 and a dynamical age for the collimated outflow of ~90 yr.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 10, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA476787
Entities
People
- David A. Boboltz
- Kevin B. Marvel
Organizations
- United States Naval Observatory