The OH Masers Towards IRAS 19092+0841

TL;DR

This study investigates OH maser emissions in high mass star forming regions, specifically IRAS 19092+0841, revealing magnetic field strengths and spatial distribution that suggest an early evolutionary stage of star formation.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed MERLIN observations of OH masers in IRAS 19092+0841, including magnetic field measurements and spatial distribution analysis, advancing understanding of early star formation stages.

Findings

Detected OH masers at 1665 and 1667 MHz near the protostar.

Measured magnetic field strength of approximately 4.4 mG.

Maser features are spread over ~0.1 pc, indicating an early evolutionary stage.

Abstract

Context. Maser emission is a strong tool for studying high mass star forming regions and their evolutionary stages. OH masers in particular can trace the circumstellar material around protostars and determine their magnetic field strengths at milliarcsecond resolution. Aims. Imaging OH maser mission towards high mass protostellar objects to determine their evolutionary stages and to locate the detected maser emission in the process of high mass star formation. Methods. In 2007, we surveyed OH maser towards 217 high mass protostellar objects to study its presence. In this paper, we present a follow up MERLIN observations of a ground state OH maser emission towards one of these objects, IRAS 19092+0841. Results. Emission from the two OH main spectral lines, 1665 and 1667 MHz, were detected close to the central object. The positions and velocities of the OH maser features have been determined. The masers are distributed over a region of ~ 500 corresponding to 22400 AU (or ~ 0.1 pc) at a distance of 4.48 kpc. The polarization properties of the OH maser features were determined as well. We identify three Zeeman pairs from which we inferred a magnetic field strength of ~ 4:4mG pointing towards the observer. Conclusions. The relatively small velocity spread and the relatively wide spacial distribution of the OH maser features support the suggestion that this object could be in an early evolutionary state before the presence of disk and/or jet/outfows.