2002/12/02 by L. J. Greenhill, P. T. Kondratko, J. E. J. Lovell +5 · 10 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/367602
published as Astrophys.J.582:L11-L14,2003 · 4 pages, including 2 figures. To appear in ApJ Letters Jan. 1, 2003 edition
arxiv created 2002/12/02 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We report the discovery of H 2 O maser emission at 1.35 cm wavelength in seven active galactic nuclei (at distances of up to 80 Mpc) during a survey conducted at the 70 m diameter antenna of the NASA Deep Space Network near Canberra, Australia. The detection rate was ~4%. Two of the maser sources are particularly interesting because they display satellite high-velocity emission lines, which are a signature of emission from the accretion disks of supermassive black holes when seen edge-on. Three of the masers are coincident, to within uncertainties of 0 2, with continuum emission sources that we observed at about λ = 1.3 cm. We also report the discovery of new spectral features in the Circinus galaxy H 2 O maser that broaden the known velocity range of emission therein by a factor of ~1.7. If the new spectral features originate in the Circinus accretion disk, then molecular material must survive at radii ~3 times smaller than had been believed previously (~0.03 pc or ~2 × 10 5 Schwarzschild radii).