SiO and H 2O maser observations of red supergiants in star clusters embedded in the galactic disk

Abstract

We present the results of radio observations of red supergiants in a star cluster, Stephenson (1990, AJ, 99, 1867)'s #2, and of candidates for red supergiants in three star clusters, Mercer et al. (2005, ApJ, 635, 560)'s #4, #8, and #13, in the SiO and H 2O maser lines. The Stephenson's #2 cluster and nearby aggregation at the southwest contain more than 15 red supergiants. We detected one red supergiant at the center of Stephenson's #2 and three in a southwest aggregation in the SiO maser line; three out of these four were also detected in the H 2O maser line. The average radial velocity of the four detected objects is 97kms -1, giving a kinematic distance of 5.5 kpc, which locates this cluster near the base of the Scutum-Crux spiral arm. We also detected six SiO emitting objects associated with other star clusters. In addition, mapping observations in the CO J = 1-0 line toward these clusters revealed that an appreciable amount of molecular gas still remains around the Stephenson's #2 cluster in contrast to the prototypical red-supergiant cluster, Bica et al. (2003, A&A, 404,223)'s #122. This indicates that the time scale of gas expulsion differs considerably in individual clusters. © 2010. Astronomical Society of Japan.