A Search for Very Compact Structure in 17 OH Masers

The apparent spot sizes of OH masers appear to be significantly broadened when seen through the inner galaxy or large extents of the galactic disk (Burke 1968). Bowers et al (1980) found evidence of small-scale structure (≲ 50 mas) in OH sources at distances of less than 5 kpc but this was characteristically absent in very distant sources (≳ 8kpc) at galactic longitudes 1 ≲ 40°. This result is typically explained in terms of interstellar scattering (ISS) by intervening diffuse HII regions.