Maser Investigation Toward Off-Plane Stars (MIOPS): Detection of SiO Masers in the Galactic Thick Disk and Halo

Studying stars that are located off the Galactic plane is important for understanding the formation history of the Milky Way. We searched for SiO masers toward off-plane O-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars from the catalog presented by Mauron et al. (2019) in order to shed light on the origin of these objects. A total of 102 stars were observed in the SiO J=1-0, v=1 and 2 transitions with the Effelsberg-100 m and Tianma-65 m telescopes. SiO masers were discovered in eight stars, all first detections. The measured maser velocities allow the first estimates of the host AGB stars' radial velocities. We find that the radial velocities of three stars (namely G068.881-24.615, G070.384-24.886, and G084.453-21.863) significantly deviate from the values expected from Galactic circular motion. The updated distances and 3D motions indicate that G068.881-24.615 is likely located in the Galactic halo, while G160.648-08.846 is probably located in the Galactic thin disk, and the other six stars are probably part of the Galactic thick disk.