Megan Argo
OH masers in nearby galaxies
Recently, a series of high velocity resolution observations have been made of the OH main line maser emission in the M82 starburst using the VLA. These observations follow up on previous studies of the OH maser population in the central kiloparsec of this starburst region, but with greater velocity resolution and sensitivity than previous observations. A total of thirteen main line maser features were detected, including all but one of the previously known sources. These new results clearly show velocity structure in spectra from several of the maser regions. Position-velocity plots show good agreement with the distribution of H{\sc i}, including the blue-ward feature in the west of the starburst which traces the velocity distribution seen in the ionised gas as traced by [Ne{\sc ii}] for example. Interestingly, the masers associated with this feature show much greater velocity structure than masers in the main velocity distribution.