Measuring the Distance of VX Sagittarii with SiO Maser Proper Motions

Abstract

We report on 43 GHz v=1, J=1–0 SiO maser proper motions in the circumstellar envelope of the M-type semi-regular variable star VX Sgr, observed by Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 3 epochs during 1999 April–May. Applying the statistical parallax analysis to these proper motions, we estimated a distance of VX Sgr of 1.57±0.27 kpc, which is consistent with that based on the proper motions of H2O masers, or on the assumption that VX Sgr belongs to the Sgr OB1 association. At this distance, VX Sgr can be classified as a red supergiant. Comparing the statistical parallax method with those of model fitting and annual parallax, we think that the statistical parallax method may be a good way of estimating SiO maser distances at present.