Detection of SiO maser emission in V838 mon

Abstract

We report on the detection of 43 GHz SiO maser emission in V838 Mon, a prototype of a new class of eruptive variables, in which a red supergiant was formed after a nova-like eruption in 2002. The detection of SiO masers indicates that the star formed after the eruption is indeed a kind of cool mass-losing object with circumstellar masers. The measured radial velocity and the intensity of maser emission are consistent with the object being located at a distance of about 7 kpc from the sun. It also suggests that a considerable percentage of SiO masing objects in the Galaxy are formed by the same mechanism as that which created V838 Mon. © 2005. Astronomical Society of Japan.