An SiO Maser Search off the Galactic Plane

We searched for the SiO $J=1$-0, $v= 1$ and 2 maser lines at ~ 43 GHz in 277 2 MASS/MSX/IRAS sources off the Galactic plane (b 3∘), which resulted in 119 (112 new) detections. Among the new detections, two are very faint objects with MSX 12μm flux densities below 2 Jy. These are likely to be O-rich AGB-stars associated with dwarf-galaxy tidal tails. The sample also includes medium bright MSX objects at moderately high galactic latitudes (3∘< b<5∘) and in the IRAS gap at higher latitudes. A signature of a warp of the inner Galactic disk is found for a disk subsample. This warp appears relatively strongly in the area of $0∘