2002IAUC.7985....1G

L. Greenhill, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, reports the nondetection of water-maser emission from five extrasolar planetary systems, including two from which water emission has been reported [Muir 2002, New Scientist 175(2361), 22], noting that young planetary systems may contain water in planets' atmospheres, interplanetary material, and comets. Cometary water-maser emission is not commonplace in the solar system (Graham et al. 2000, A.J. 119, 2465), but comet-planet impacts may be a source of transient maser emission (Cosmovici 2000, ASP Conf. Ser. 213, 151). Observations were made of epsilon Eri on Sept. 21.7, 27.7, and 28.7 UT by P. Kondratko and J. Lovell with the 70-m NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna (+ 400-MHz Smithsonian and 16-MHz Australia Telescope correlation spectrometers) near Canberra. On Sept. 21 and 27, the 400-MHz correlator generated spectra with 1-sigma-noise levels of 14 and 28 mJy (flux densities corrected for sky opacity), respectively, in each 1.3-km/s channel between heliocentric velocities about -2650 and +2650 km/s. On Sept. 27 and 28, the 16-MHz correlator generated spectra with 1-sigma-noise levels in each 0.42-km/s channel of 46 mJy over -90 to +126 km/s and of 30 mJy over -25 to +191 km/s, respectively. J. F. Gomez, I. de Gregorio-Monsalvo, and T. Kuiper conducted observations of upsilon And using the DSN 70-m antenna (+ 10-MHz spectrometer) near Madrid on Sept. 24.0 and 25.9. The 1-sigma-noise levels for 0.53-km/s channels were 29, 74, and 47 mJy over velocity intervals of -253 to -132, -122 to +6, and +21 to +140 km/s, respectively. On Sept. 27.7, Lovell and Kondratko also observed upsilon And in Canberra with both correlators and obtained 1-sigma noise levels of 73 mJy over about -2650 to +2650 km/s (with 1.3-km/s channels) and 64 mJy over -42 to +174 km/s (with 0.42-km/s channels). Systemic velocities observed are +15.5 km/s for epsilon Eri and -28.3 km/s for upsilon And. Between Sept. 21.3 and 21.6, Kondratko and Lovell also obtained nondetections at Canberra over about -2650 to +2650 km/s (with 1.3-km/s channels) for 51 Peg (25 mJy), HD 209458 (22 mJy), and HD 196050 (28 mJy).