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Abstract
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 distribution. A fully dynamical calculation of the expanding bubble is presented which provides a satisfactory fit for the observations and suggests that this system is only ~250 yr old. Thus these observations may show the very first stages of the formation of a jet from a young stellar object.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-1992
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/186444
Repository Citation
Low, Mordecai-Mark Mac and Elitzur, Moshe, "Water Masers in W49N - The Youngest Stellar Jet?" (1992). Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications. 230.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/physastron_facpub/230
Notes/Citation Information
Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, v. 393, no. 1, p. L33-L36.
©1992. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
The copyright holder has granted permission for posting the article here.