The Astrometric Animation of Water Masers towards the Mira Variable BX Cam

Abstract

We report VLBI monitoring observations of the 22 GHz water (H${}_2$O) masers around the Mira variable BX Cam, which were carried out as a part of the EAVN Synthesis of Stellar Maser Animations (ESTEMA) project. Data of 37 epochs in total were obtained from 2018 May to 2021 June with a time interval of 3-4 weeks, spanning approximately three stellar pulsation periods ($P=\sim$440 d). In particular, the dual-beam system equipped on the VERA stations was used to measure the kinematics and parallaxes of the H${}_2$O maser features. The measured parallax, $\pi =1.79\pm 0.08$ mas, is consistent with $Gaia$ EDR3 and previously measured VLBI parallaxes within a 1-$\sigma$ error level. The position of the central star was estimated, based on both the $Gaia$ EDR3 data and the center position of the ring-like 43 GHz silicon-monoxide (SiO) maser distribution imaged with the KVN. The three-dimensional H${}_2$O maser kinematics indicates that the circumstellar envelope is expanding at a velocity of $13\pm 4$ km s${}^{-1}$, while there are asymmetries in both the spatial and velocity distributions of the maser features. Furthermore, the H${}_2$O maser animation achieved by our dense monitoring program manifests the propagation of shock waves in the circumstellar envelope of BX Cam.

arXiv comment31 pages, 16 figures, accepted by ApJ

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• Long-term Simultaneous Monitoring Observations of SiO and H2O Masers toward the Mira Variable WX Serpentis
• Water vapour masers in long-period variable stars III. Mira variables U Her and RR Aql
• First Trigonometric Parallax Measurements with the KVN and VERA Array (KaVA)