Proposal code

v037

Proposal title

Extragalactic OH Masers

The

Investigators and their

Affiliations

P.I. Karl M. Menten Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Lincoln J. Greenhill Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
James M. Moran Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Mark J. Reid Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

Proposal Abstract

We propose VSOP observations to map the two strongest OH megamasers Arp 220 and III Zw 35. Many important questions remain to be answered concerning the nature of these ``megamaser" galaxies. Of central importance is the question of the relation between of the OH maser emission and the active nuclei in these systems. Some models suggest that the masers are low-gain amplifiers and arise from regions at distances of a few hundred pc from the galactic nuclei, while recent transatlantic VLBI observations of Arp 220 indicate high-gain maser emission, with the bulk of the emission being emitted from a region smaller than 1 pc. Through VSOP maps of these two megamasers, we hope to obtain sufficient angular resolution to settle this controversy, to spatially resolve the OH velocity field, and to determine the enclosed masses in these systems.

The full Cover Sheets (compressed post-script, typically 50kbytes) can be retrieved. Note that many proposals were reduced in extent by the Scientific Review Committee (e.g. by reducing the number of experiments), however the Cover Sheets contain the full proposal as submitted. Also note that AO1 proposals were submitted in November 1995, and information such as affiliations and contact details has changed for some proposers since that time. The Cover Sheets (and the details on this page, which were derived from the Cover Sheets) may therefore have changed.