The high-mass star-forming site G009.62+00.20E hosts the 6.7 GHz methanol maser source with the greatest flux density in the Galaxy which has been flaring periodically over the last ten years. We performed high-resolution astrometric measurements of the CH3OH, H2O, and OH maser emission and 7 mm continuum in the region. The radio continuum emission was resolved in two sources separated by 1300 AU. The CH3OH maser cloudlets are distributed along two north-south ridges of emission to the east and west of the strongest radio continuum component. This component likely pinpoints a massive young stellar object which heats up its dusty envelope, providing a constant IR pumping for the Class II CH3OH maser transitions. We suggest that the periodic maser activity may be accounted for by an independent, pulsating, IR radiation field provided by a bloated protostar in the vicinity of the brightest masers. We also report about the discovery of an elliptical distribution of CH3OH maser emission in the region of periodic variability.
@article{arxiv.1503.06841,
title = {The environment of the strongest galactic methanol maser},
author = {A. Sanna and K. M. Menten and C. Carrasco-González and M. J. Reid and S. P. Ellingsen and A. Brunthaler and L. Moscadelli and R. Cesaroni and V. Krishnan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.06841},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
12 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, typos added, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters