SWAG Water Masers in the Galactic Center

Abstract

The Galactic Center contains large amounts of molecular and ionized gas as well as a plethora of energetic objects. Water masers are an extinction-insensitive probe for star formation and thus ideal for studies of star formation stages in this highly obscured region. With the Australia Telescope Compact Array, we observed 22 GHz water masers in the entire Central Molecular Zone with sub-parsec resolution as part of the large SWAG survey: "Survey of Water and Ammonia in the Galactic Center". We detect of order…