We report the results of our observations of the S255IR area with the SMA at 1.3 mm in the very extended configuration and at 0.8 mm in the compact configuration as well as with the IRAM-30m at 0.8 mm. The best achieved angular resolution is about 0.4 arcsec. The dust continuum emission and several tens of molecular spectral lines are observed. The majority of the lines is detected only towards the S255IR-SMA1 clump, which represents a rotating structure (probably disk) around the young massive star. The achieved angular resolution is still insufficient for conclusions about Keplerian or non-Keplerian character of the rotation. The temperature of the molecular gas reaches 130-180 K. The size of the clump is about 500 AU. The clump is strongly fragmented as follows from the low beam filling factor. The mass of the hot gas is significantly lower than the mass of the central star. A strong DCN emission near the center of the hot core most probably indicates a presence of a relatively cold ( 80 K) and rather massive clump there. High velocity emission is observed in the CO line as well as in lines of high density tracers HCN, HCO + , CS and other molecules. The outflow morphology obtained from combination of the SMA and IRAM-30m data is significantly different from that derived from the SMA data alone. The CO emission detected with the SMA traces only one boundary of the outflow. The outflow is most probably driven by jet bow shocks created by episodic ejections from the center. We detected a dense high velocity clump associated apparently with one of the bow shocks. The outflow strongly affects the chemical composition of the surrounding medium.

We have used the ATNF Mopra antenna and the SEST antenna to search in the directions of several class II methanol maser sources for emission from six methanol transitions in the frequency range 85–115 GHz. The transitions were selected from excitation studies as potential maser candidates. Methanol emission at one or more frequencies was detected from five of the maser sources, as well as from Orion KL. Although the lines are weak, we find evidence of maser origin for three new lines in G345.01+1.79, and possibly one new line in G9.62+0.20. The observations, together with published maser observations at other frequencies, are compared with methanol maser modelling for G345.01+1.79 and NGC 6334F. We find that the majority of observations in both sources are consistent with a warm dust (175 K) pumping model at hydrogen density ∼106 cm−3 and methanol column density ∼5×1017 cm−2. The substantial differences between the maser spectra in the two sources can be attributed to the geometry of the maser region.

We present the results of an interferometric study of 38 millimeter-wave lines of CH3OH in the region around the water maser source W3(H2O) and a region extending about 30" to the south and west of the hydroxyl maser source W3(OH). The methanol emitting region around W3(H2O) has an extent of 2.0" x 1.2" (4400 x 2600 AU). The density is of order 1.e7 cm-3, sufficient to thermalize most of the methanol lines. The kinetic temperature is approximately 140 K and the methanol fractional abundance greater than 1.e-6, indicative of a high degree of grain mantle evaporation. The W3(H2O) source contains sub-structure, with peaks corresponding to the TW source and Wyrowski's B/C, separated by 2500 AU in projection. The kinematics are consistent with these being distinct protostellar cores in a wide binary orbit and a dynamical mass for the region of a few tens of Mo. The extended methanol emission to the southwest of W3(OH) is seen strongly only from the lowest excitation lines and from lines known elsewhere to be class I methanol masers, namely the 84.5 GHz 5(-1)-4(0)E and 95.2 GHz 8(0)-7(1)A+ lines. Within this region there are two compact clumps, which we denote as swA and swB, each about 15" (0.16 pc projected distance) away from W3(OH). Excitation analysis of these clumps indicates the presence of lines with inverted populations but only weak amplification. The sources swA and swB appear to have kinetic temperatures of order 50-100 K and densities of order 1.e5 - 1.e6 cm-3. The methanol fractional abundance for the warmer clump is of order 1.e-7, suggestive of partial grain mantle evaporation. The clumping occurs on mass scales of order 1 Mo.Comment: 28 pages including 6 figures and 4 tables, accepted by Ap

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The H ii region RCW 120 is a well-known object, which is often considered as a target to verify theoretical models of gas and dust dynamics in the interstellar medium. However, the exact geometry of RCW 120 is still a matter of debate. In this work, we analyse observational data on molecular emission in RCW 120 and show that 13 CO(2-1) and C 18 O(2-1) lines are fitted by a 2D model representing a ring-like face-on structure. The changing of the C 18 O(3-2) line profile from double-peaked to single-peaked from the dense molecular Condensation 1 might be a signature of stalled expansion in this direction. In order to explain a self-absorption dip of the 13 CO(2-1) and 13 CO(3-2) lines, we suggest that RCW 120 is surrounded by a diffuse molecular cloud, and find confirmation of this cloud on a map of interstellar extinction. Optically thick 13 CO(2-1) emission and the infrared 8 µm PAH band form a neutral envelope of the H ii region resembling a ring, while the envelope breaks into separate clumps on images made with optically thin C 18 O(2-1) line and far-infrared dust emission.