Rare Masers -Cosmic 'Water Fountains'- Discovered

[Ichingcarpenter]

Rare Masers -Cosmic 'Water Fountains'- Discovered


Three new water masers have been discovered in the Milky Way, including what could be one of the fastest ever found - reaching speeds of up to 350 km per second – and a rare ‘water fountain,' a special class of ‘masers’ – large microwave lasers caused by high-mass dying stars or high-mass star formation regions. The high mass source spews out material including clouds of water that can travel at a couple of hundred kilomers per second.


The term ‘maser’ originated as an acronym of Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Masers work the same way as lasers except they emit microwaves instead of visible light.
Water molecules in High Mass Star-forming Regions (HMSR) and around dying stars absorb energy from their surroundings and re-emit it as radiation in the microwave frequency range.





http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/02/image-of-the-day-rare-masers-cosmic-water-fountains-discovered.html