TWO EPOCHS OF VERY LARGE ARRAY OBSERVATIONS OF WATER MASER EMISSION IN THE ACTIVE GALAXY NGC 6240

Abstract

Studies of 22GHz H2O maser emission from the merging galaxy NGC 6240 with double nuclei are presented. Two epochs of Very Large Array (VLA) observations in the A-configuration in spectral-line mode were carried out at 0.1 arcsec resolution by covering the redshifted velocity range of ~ 300 km/s with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The purpose of these new observations is twofold: to detect an H2O maser that an earlier VLA observation pinpointed in the southern nucleus in the northern nucleus as well to clarify the kinematics of the double nuclei, and to understand the origin of the maser in the galaxy. In the second epoch, one velocity feature peaking at Vlsr=7491.1 km/s, redshifted by ~200 km/s relative to the systemic velocity, was detected only toward the southern nucleus. The detection of an H2O maser feature at or near this velocity had never been reported in earlier observations. However, including the known velocity features at redshifted velocities, no other velocity features were observed toward either nuclei throughout these epochs. The maser remains unresolved at an angular resolution of ~ 0".1, corresponding to a linear size of less than about 45 pc. The two epochs of VLA observations show that the maser intensity is variable on timescales of at least three months, while the correlation between the maser intensity and the radio continuum intensity is not certain from our data. It is plausible that the maser in NGC 6240 is associated with the activity of an active galactic nucleus in the southern nucleus. Alternatively, the maser can be explained by starforming activity at the site of massive starformation in the galaxy.