Abstract

AbstractWith luminosities between those of typical Galactic OH masers and more distant OH megamasers, the masers in the nearby galaxy M82 are an interesting population which can be used to probe the physical conditions in the central starburst region of this irregular galaxy. Following on from previous low spatial resolution studies, here we present the initial results of two high-resolution observations separated by eight years. We find that some of the maser spots are resolved into multiple spatial components when observed with the EVN, as predicted by our previous studies, but that significantly less flux is recovered that that seen with the previous VLA observations. We conclude that some of this flux difference is likely due to variability but that, in common with the results seen in Arp220, there may also be a significant diffuse component.

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