2008ApJ...689..430S

We present Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the water maser emission toward IRAS 16552-3050. The maser emission shows a velocity spread of ≃170 km/s, and a bipolar distribution with a separation between the red- and blueshifted groups of ≃0.08". These observations and the likely post-AGB nature of the source indicate that IRAS 16552-3050 can be considered as a member of the ``water fountain'' class of sources (evolved stars showing H₂O maser emission with a velocity spread ≳100 km/s, probably tracing collimated jets). The water maser emission in IRAS 16552-3050 does not seem to be associated with any known optical counterpart. Moreover, this source does not have a near-IR 2MASS counterpart, as it happens in about half of the water fountains known. This suggests that these sources tend to be heavily obscured objects, probably with massive precursors (≳4-5 M_☉). We suggest that the water maser emission in IRAS 16552-3050 could be tracing a rapidly precessing bipolar jet.