SiO and H2O Maser Observations of Red Supergiants in Star Clusters Embedded in the Galactic Disk

We present the results of radio observations of red supergiants in a star cluster, Stephenson (1990, AJ, 99, 1867)’s #2, and of candidates for red supergiants in three star clusters, Mercer et al. (2005, ApJ, 635, 560)’s #4, #8, and #13, in the SiO and H2O maser lines. The Stephenson’s #2 cluster and nearby aggregation at the southwest contain more than 15 red supergiants. We detected one red supergiant at the center of Stephenson’s #2 and three in a southwest aggregation in the SiO maser line; three out of these four were also detected in the H2O maser line. The average radial velocity of the four detected objects is 97 km s � 1 , giving a kinematic distance of 5.5 kpc, which locates this cluster near the base of the Scutum–Crux spiral arm. We also detected six SiO emitting objects associated with other star clusters. In addition, mapping observations in the CO J = 1–0 line toward these clusters revealed that an appreciable amount of molecular gas still remains around the Stephenson’s #2 cluster in contrast to the prototypical red-supergiant cluster, Bica et al. (2003, A&A, 404, 223)’s #122. This indicates that the time scale of gas expulsion differs considerably in individual clusters.