Radio Source I in the Orion BN/KL region provides the closest example of high mass star formation. It powers a rich ensemble of SiO and H2O masers, and is one of only three star-forming regions known to display SiO maser emission. Previous monitoring of different SiO masers with the VLBA and VLA has enabled the resolution of a compact disk and a protostellar wind at radii <100 AU from Source I, which collimates into a bipolar outflow at radii of 100-1000 AU (see contribution by Greenhill et al., this volume). Source I may provide the best case of disk-mediated accretion and outflow recollimation in massive star formation. Here, we report preliminary results of sub-arcsecond resolution 325 GHz H2O maser observations made with the SMA. We find that 325 GHz H2O masers trace a more collimated portion of the Source I outflow than masers at 22 GHz, but occur at similar radii suggesting similar excitation conditions. A velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow axis, indicating rotation, supports magneto-centrifugal driving of the flow.

Radio and infrared interferometry of SiO maser stars provide complementary information on the atmosphere and circumstellar environment at comparable spatial resolution. Here, we present the latest results on the atmospheric structure and the dust condensation region of AGB stars based on our recent infrared spectro-interferometric observations, which represent the environment of SiO masers. We discuss, as an example, new results from simultaneous VLTI and VLBA observations of the Mira variable AGB star R Cnc, including VLTI near- and mid-infrared interferometry, as well as VLBA observations of the SiO maser emission toward this source. We present preliminary results from a monitoring campaign of high-frequency SiO maser emission toward evolved stars obtained with the APEX telescope, which also serves as a precursor of ALMA images of the SiO emitting region. We speculate that large-scale long-period chaotic motion in the extended molecular atmosphere may be the physical reason for observed deviations from point symmetry of atmospheric molecular layers, and for the observed erratic variability of high-frequency SiO maser emission.

Water masers are good tracers of high-mass star-forming regions. Water maser VLBI observations provide a good probe for studying high-mass star formation and galactic structure. We plan to make a blind survey toward the northern Galactic plane in future years using the 25 m radio telescope of the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. We will select some water maser sources discovered in the survey and perform high resolution observations to study the gas kinematics close to high-mass protostars.

Class I 44 GHz methanol masers are not as well-known, as common, or as bright as their more famous Class II cousins at 6.7 and 12.2 GHz. Nevertheless, the 44 GHz masers are commonly found in high-mass star forming regions. At times they appear to trace dynamically important phenomena; at other times they show no obvious link to the star formation process. Here, we summarize the major observational efforts to date, including both dedicated surveys and collateral observations. The principal results are presented, some that were expected, and others that were unexpected.

Our analysis of a VLBA 12-hour synthesis observations of the OH masers in W49N has provided detailed high angular-resolution images of the maser sources, at 1612, 1665 and 1667 MHz. The images, of several dozens of spots, reveal anisotropic scatter broadening; with typical sizes of a few tens of milli-arc-seconds and axial ratios between 1.5 to 3. The image position angles oriented perpendicular to the galactic plane are interpreted in terms of elongation of electron-density irregularities parallel to the galactic plane, due to a similarly aligned local magnetic field. However, we find the apparent angular sizes on the average a factor of 2.5 less than those reported by Desai et al., indicating significantly less scattering than inferred earlier. The average position angle of the scattered broadened images is also seen to deviate significantly (by about 10 degrees) from that implied by the magnetic field in the Galactic plane. More intriguingly, for a few Zeeman pairs in our set, we find significant differences in the scatter broadened images for the two hands of polarization, even when apparent velocity separation is less than 0.1 km/s. Here we present the details of our observations and analysis, and discuss the interesting implications of our results for the intervening anisotropic magneto-ionic medium, as well as a comparison with the expectations based on earlier work.

We report multi-epoch VLBI observations of molecular masers towards the high-mass star forming region AFGL 5142, leading to the determination of the 3D velocity field of circumstellar molecular gas at radii <0.″23 (or 400 AU) from the protostar MM–1. Our observations of CH3OH maser emission enabled, for the first time, a direct measurement of infall of a molecular envelope on to an intermediate-mass protostar (radius of 300 AU, velocity of 5 km s−1, and infall rate of 6 × 10−4n8M⊙ yr−1, where n8 is the ambient volume density in units of 108 cm−3). In addition, our measurements of H2O maser (and radio continuum) emission revealed a collimated bipolar molecular outflow (and ionized jet) from MM–1. The evidence of simultaneous accretion and outflow at small spatial scales, makes AFGL 5142 an extremely compelling target for high-angular resolution studies of high-mass star formation.

The groundwork of the cosmic maser theory was laid four decades ago. The elapsed time, including the few years after the last IAU symposium dedicated to masers, did not add much to the fundamentals. In this review, I will summarize some cornerstones of the theory, with an emphasis on issues that don't seem to have received due attention in the past. I will also comment on some new developments.

We conducted the astrometry of H2O masers in the Galactic star-forming regions ON1 and ON2N with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). The measured distances to ON1 and ON2N are 2.47±0.11 kpc and 3.83±0.13 kpc, respectively. In the case that ON1 and ON2N are on a perfect circular rotation, we estimate the angular rotation velocity of the Galactic rotation at the Sun (the ratio of the Galactic constants) to be 28 ± 2 km s−1 kpc−1 using the measured distances and three-dimensional velocity components of ON1 and ON2N. This value is larger than the IAU recommended value of 25.9 km s−1 kpc−1, but consistent with other results recently obtained with the VLBI technique.

An identification has been conducted of class I methanol masers with 1) short-wave infrared objects EGO (extended green objects) - tracer bipolar outflow of matter in young stellar objects, and 2) isolated pre-protostellar gas-dust cores of the interstellar medium which are observed in absorption in the mid-infrared in the Galactic plane. It is shown that more than 50% of class I methanol masers are identified with bipolar outflows, considering the EGO as bipolar outflows (as compared with the result of 22% in the first version of the MMI catalog that contains no information about EGO). 99 from 139 class I methanol masers (71%) are identified with SDC. Thus, it seems possible that the MMI can be formed in isolated self-gravitating condensations, which are the silhouette of dark clouds - IRDC and SDC.

The work here represents the summary of observations made with the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) 26 m telescope of the water vapour (H2O) Masers in the Orion KL source region for a period of 8 months during the flare of 2011. The observation setup, calibration method together with the resulting maser time series are discussed.

The kinematics of photoevaporating disks and their associated ionized outflows around massive stars are fundamental to understand how these stars are formed and they evolve in their early phases of their evolution. To date, the important advances have been provided by studying the UC-HII region of MWC349A thanks to their strong maser emission at Hydrogen radio-recombination lines (RRLs). This B[e] star is one of the best prototypes of massive star with an ionized outflow expanding at nearly constant velocity. A 3D radiative transfer model applied to the H30α line has allowed to constrain the disk kinematics, which seems to follow pure Keplerian rotation in its outer parts. The model has also allowed us to constraints the launching radius of the outflow. Our results are supported by the agreement of our model predictions with the observations for other observed RRLs. Recent high-frequency observations of RRL masers with the Herschel Space Telescope (HIFI) show that the kinematics of the disk inner regions is not well understood. Modeling of these lines will constrain the formation of the ionized winds.