High Angular Resolution Observations of Maser Kinematics
Near Low Mass Young Stellar Objects
Alwyn Wooten (NRAO)
In regions directly coincident with forming stars water maser emission
is observed when the outflowing jets of material interact with the
surrounding medium. Observations of these water masers, using the VLA
and VLBA dramatically reveal the innermost regions of the star
formation process, with the VLBA at or below the 1-AU scale.
We have found that the water masers clearly trace the jets at these
scales. The masers show proper motions on the order of 60 to 100 {\it
km/s} and form within a few AU of the exciting protostar. Proper
motions are thus detectable over timescales as short as several days.
By observing the distributions and motions of the water masers
associated with these objects we may be able to address in greater
detail the collimation mechanism of the jets seen in these objects.
We will provide an overview of multi-epoch observations obtained so
far by our group and other researchers on the water masers in the
sources IRAS16293-2422, IRAS05413-0104 (HH212), S106FIR, and SVS13 and
IRAS4 A, B in NGC1333.
