Maser Parameters in the Star Forming Region W3(OH)

Star formation takes place when dense regions within a molecular cloud collapse. A useful way to study the earliest moments of star formation is by observing so-called maser sources in a star-forming region. Masers are analogous to the lasers we may be familiar with, except that they occur at microwave wavelengths instead of visible (along with other subtle differences which will not be listed here). This project will plot the intensity profiles of about 60 masers in the star forming region known as W3 (OH), and use Gaussian curve fitting of data in the Matlab program to obtain the parameters of these profiles. These parameters are the center velocity (v_LSR), the intensity, and the line width at half the maximum peak. These parameters, along with the relative locations of the masers, will then be used to study the characteristics of the star forming region W3 (OH).