The W51 Main/South SFR complex seen through 6-GHz OH and methanol masers

Abstract W51 Main/South is one of the brightest and richest high-mass star-forming regions (SFR) in the complex W51. It is known to host many ultra-compact HII (UCHII) regions thought to be the site of massive young stellar objects. Maser emission from various species is also found in the region. We have performed MERLIN astrometric observations of excited-OH maser emission at 6.035 GHz and Class II methanol maser emission at 6.668 GHz towards W51 to investigate the relationship between the maser emission and the compact continuum sources in this SFR complex. Here we present the astrometric distributions of both 6.668-GHz methanol and 6.035-GHz excited-OH maser emission in the W51 Main/South region. The location of maser emission in the two lines is compared with that of previously published OH groundstate emission. The interesting coherent velocity and spatial structure observed in the methanol maser distribution as well as the relationship of the masers to infall or outflow in the region are discussed. It appears that the masers are excited by multiple objects potentially at different stages of evolution.