A Pilot Survey for the H$_2$O Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS)

TL;DR

This paper reports on a pilot survey using the Mopra radiotelescope to evaluate the feasibility of a comprehensive H$_2$O maser survey along the southern Galactic plane, focusing on spectral line detection capabilities.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of the Mopra telescope and new receiver setup for efficient spectral line mapping in the Galactic plane.

Findings

Detected H$_2$O masers and various molecular lines

Mapped two 1-square-degree regions along the Galactic plane

Assessed spectral lines detectable with quick mapping

Abstract

We describe observations with the Mopra radiotelescope designed to assess the feasibility of the H$_2$O maser southern Galactic plane survey (HOPS). We mapped two one-square-degree regions along the Galactic plane using the new 12 mm receiver and the UNSW Mopra spectrometer (MOPS). We covered the entire spectrum between 19.5 and 27.5 GHz using this setup with the main aims of finding out which spectral lines can be detected with a quick mapping survey. We report on detected emission from H$_2$O masers, NH$_3$ inversion transitions (1,1), (2,2) and (3,3), HC$_3$N (3-2), as well as several radio recombination lines.