Establish the origin of the radio source near WR 39

Determine whether the significant radio emission detected near WR 39 originates from WR 39 itself or from a nearby or line-of-sight object.

Background

WR 39 is identified as a known particle-accelerating colliding-wind binary and is detected in the MeerKAT data. However, the reported coordinates of WR 39 are offset by approximately 3 arcseconds from the center of the detected point source.

Because the emission is significant but spatially offset, the paper does not establish that the radio source is physically associated with WR 39. Resolving this ambiguity is necessary for interpreting the detection as emission from the Wolf–Rayet system.

References

While the emission is significant, we cannot fully reject the scenario of radio emission from a nearby or line-of-sight object.

— Meerkat measurement of the radio emission from massive stars in the Galactic plane I. Wolf-Rayet stars  (2609.19950 - Tasseroul et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Section 3.1, “Known WR-type PACWB”

These must be from foreground or background sources along the LOS but the precise origin of these signals remains a mystery for the time being.

— Polarization Observations of a sample of Excited OH masers  (2609.19980 - Smits et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Section 3, subsection “G133.715+1.215 (W3 IRS 5, IRAS 02219+6152)”