Stokes Parameters for 1665-Megacycles-per-second Emission from OH near Source W3

Abstract

The Stokes parameters were measured as a function of frequency for the anonmalous 1665-megacycles-per-second OH emission originating near the thermal radio source W3. The emission is highly polarized, and the polarization parameters vary rapidly with frequency. The observed polarization can be described in terms of narrow, roughly Gaussian, emission features, all with uniform polarization but with several features overlapping without coherence near the center of the spectrum. Most of the individual features may be 100-percent polarized. Detailed examination of the brightest features suggest that they are not exactly Gaussian in shape.