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J.A. Braatz, M.J Claussen (NRAO), P.J. Diamond (Univ. of Manchester), A.S. Wilson (Univ. of Maryland), C. Henkel (MPIfR)
NGC 1052 is an elliptical galaxy with a weak active nucleus, a strong VLBI-scale radio jet, and a nuclear water maser. The galaxy is one of only two known H2O maser-detected systems to have a broad (~ 80 km s-1) smooth emission profile, the other being TXFS 2226-184. The nuclear continuum source is variable, as is the flux and spectral profile of the maser emission. We made an initial VLBI observation of NGC 1052 at 22 GHz in November 1995 and determined that the maser emission is aligned along the radio jet, not perpendicular to it. The maser's alignment contrasts the configuration in the well-studied system NGC 4258, in which the masers originate in gas coplanar with the edge-on disk while the radio jets extend along the disk axis. To track the variations of the maser in NGC 1052, we have obtained three more epochs of VLBI data. We will present maps and of the maser and continuum from these data and we will discuss the maser's association with the jet. Our discussion focuses on the possibilities that 1) the maser forms in nondissociative shocks as the jet impinges the ambient medium, and 2) the maser exists in molecular complexes which aren't necessarily associated with the jet, but which amplify the background radio continuum associated with it.
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