The Relationship of OH and H2O Masers to the HII Regions in Cep A

Abstract

There is evidence to show that OH and H2O maser emission is associated with the early stages of star formation. But the complexity of both the HII regions and the distribution of maser sites, makes it difficult determine how they are associated. Recent high resolution radio observations of Cep A, obtained using the VLA (Hughes 1985), together with accurate positioning of OH and H2O masers using MERLIN (Cohen et al. 1985), may help in this matter.