Stellar molecular jets traced by maser emission

Abstract

Highly collimated jets found in AGB and post-AGB stars are expected to play an important role for shaping planetary nebulae. Recent VLBI observations of H2O maser sources have revealed that some of the spatio-kinematical structures of H2O maser sources exhibit stellar jets with extremely spatially and kinematically high collimation. Such stellar H2O maser jets, so-called "water fountain" sources, have been identified in about 10 sources to date. Here we review recent VLBI observations and relevant observational results of the water fountain sources. They have revealed a typical dynamical age and the detailed kinematical structures of the water fountains, possibility of the existence of "equatorial flows", and the evolutionary status of the host stars. The location and kinematics of one of the water fountain sources in the Galaxy is also revealed and shown here.

8 pages, 6 figures, in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium 242: Astrophysical Masers and their Environments

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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• First detection of CO lines in a water fountain star
• Kinematics of Red Variables in the Solar Neighborhood I. Basic Data Obtained by an SiO Maser Survey
• From the ashes: JVLA observations of water fountain nebula candidates show the rebirth of IRAS 18455+0448
• Sensitive CO and 13CO survey of water fountain stars. Detections towards IRAS 18460-0151 and IRAS 18596+0315
• The magnetic field of the proto-planetary nebula candidate IRAS 19296+2227
• Searching for nascent planetary nebulae: OHPNe candidates in the SPLASH survey
• Bow shocks in water fountain jets
• Is the nitrogen-rich source PN K4-47 a true planetary nebula?