The association between water kilomasers and compact radio sources in the starburst galaxy NGC 2146

We report the detection of 22 GHz water vapor emission toward the starburst galaxy NGC 2146, made using the Effelsberg 100-m telescope. Interferometric observations with the Very Large Array (VLA) show that a part of the emission originates from two prominent sites of star formation that are associated with compact radio continuum sources, likely ultra-compact HII regions. It is concluded that the emission arises from the most luminous and distant H2O kilomasers detected so far. Our data increase the number of water maser detections in northern galaxies (Dec > -30degrees) with IRAS point source fluxes S-100mum > 50 Jy to 18%.