Water maser detections in southern candidates to post-AGB stars and Planetary Nebulae

Abstract

We intended to study the incidence and characteristics of water masers in the envelopes of stars in the post-AGB and PN evolutionary stages. We have used the 64-m antenna in Parkes (Australia) to search for water maser emission at 22 GHz, towards a sample of 74 sources with IRAS colours characteristic of post-AGB stars and PNe, at declination $<-32°$. In our sample, 39% of the sources are PNe or PNe candidates, and 50% are post-AGB stars or post-AGB candidates. We have detected four new water masers, all of them in optically obscured sources: three in PNe candidates (IRAS 12405-6219, IRAS 15103-5754, and IRAS 16333-4807); and one in a post-AGB candidate (IRAS 13500-6106). The PN candidate IRAS 15103-5754 has water fountain characteristics, and it could be the first PN of this class found. We confirm the tendency suggested in Paper I that the presence of water masers in the post-AGB phase is favoured in obscured sources with massive envelopes. We propose an evolutionary scenario for water masers in the post-AGB and PNe stages, in which ``water fountain'' masers could develop during post-AGB and early PN stages. Later PNe would show lower velocity maser emission, both along jets and close to the central objects, with only the central masers remaining in more evolved PNe.

11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (10)

• Preplanetary Nebulae: An HST Imaging Survey and a New Morphological Classification System
• A spectroscopic atlas of post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae selected from the IRAS Point Source Catalogue
• The circumstellar envelope of IRC+10216 from milli-arcsecond to arcmin scales
• H2O Maser Observations of Candidate Post-AGB Stars and Discovery of Three High-velocity Water Sources
• The spatio-kinematical structure and distance of the pre-planetary nebula IRAS 19134+2131
• New detections of H2O masers in planetary nebulae and post-AGB stars using the Robledo-70m antenna
• Spitzer/IRS spectroscopy of high mass precursors to planetary nebulae
• Radio interferometric observations of candidate water-maser-emitting planetary nebulae
• VLA observations of the "water fountain" IRAS 16552-3050
• Detection of HCO+ Emission toward the Planetary Nebula K 3-35

Cited by in corpus (16)

• A mid-infrared imaging catalogue of post-AGB stars
• Accurate water maser positions from HOPS
• A near-IR spectroscopic survey of massive jets towards EGOs
• An updated catalog of OH-maser-emitting planetary nebulae
• Water Maser Survey on AKARI and IRAS Sources: A Search for "Low-Velocity" Water Fountains
• The first "water fountain" collimated outflow in a planetary nebula
• H${}_2$O maser emission associated with the planetary nebula IRAS 16333$-$4807
• Sensitive CO and 13CO survey of water fountain stars. Detections towards IRAS 18460-0151 and IRAS 18596+0315
• CO J=3-2 Emission from the "Water Fountain" Sources IRAS 16342-3814 and IRAS 18286-0959
• A search for water maser emission toward obscured post-AGB star and planetary nebula candidates
• Do Water Fountain Jets Really Indicate the Onset of the Morphological Metamorphosis of Circumstellar Envelopes?
• Fast, gusty winds blowing from the core of the pre-planetary nebula M2-56
• Dust shell model of the water fountain source IRAS 16342--3814
• Searching for nascent planetary nebulae: OHPNe candidates in the SPLASH survey
• CRIRES-VLT high-resolution spectro-astrometry as a tool in the search of small structures at the cores of Planetary Nebulae
• The Nature of the Stingray Nebula from Radio Observations