2023/10/12 by Artis Aberfelds, Aberfelds, A., Jānis Šteinbergs +5
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure #Neutrino Physics Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.08273
openalex publication_date 2023/10/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present the results of a 5-year monitoring program of 42 sources targeted at 6.7 GHz methanol masers, conducted from March 2017 to October 2022 using the Irbene 32 and 16 meter radio telescopes. Sources were observed with irregular intervals where time between two consecutive observation ranged from twenty four hours to thirty five days. We found that more than 55 per cent of the sources showed significant variability, but often only one or a few spectral features were varying significantly. Numerous type of variability were found in our sample: low-variable, periodic, irregular, synchronised and anti-correlated between features and steadily raising or falling flux. Our analysis techniques also uncover new variability trends for several sources. The maser monitoring program is one of the first single-dish science initiatives at the Irbene radio telescope complex, initiated shortly after the instrument's reconstruction and upgrades. Our findings unequivocally demonstrate its suitability for maser research purposes.