Observations of warm dust near methanol masers

Abstract

Continuum emission at 450 and 850 μm from warm dust has been mapped in the fields of 71 methanol masers. Within these fields lie 30 centimetre-wave radio continuum sources and an additional 13 methanol maser sites. Sub-mm emission is detected at all but one of the maser sites, confirming the association of methanol maser emission with deeply embedded objects. Measured bolometric luminosities confirm that methanol maser emission is an excellent signpost of high-mass star formation. Examples of nearby isolated maserless dust cores may be harbouring massive protostars at an earlier evolutionary stage.