  We report the discovery of water maser emission in eight active galactic
nuclei (AGN) with the 70-m NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas at
Tidbinbilla, Australia and Robledo, Spain. The positions of the newly
discovered masers, measured with the VLA, are consistent with the optical
positions of the host nuclei to within 1 sigma (0.3 arcsec radio and 1.3 arcsec
optical) and most likely mark the locations of the embedded central engines.
The spectra of two sources, NGC 3393 and NGC 5495, display the characteristic
spectral signature of emission from an edge-on accretion disk, with orbital
velocities of ~600 and ~400 km s^-1, respectively. In a survey with DSN
facilities of 630 AGN selected from the NASA Extragalactic Database, we have
discovered a total of 15 water maser sources. The resulting incidence rate of
maser emission among nearby (v_sys < 7000 km s^-1) Seyfert 1.8-2.0 and LINER
systems is ~10 percent for a typical rms noise level of ~14 mJy over 1.3 km
s^-1 spectral channels. As a result of this work, the number of nearby AGN
(v_sys < 7000 km s^-1) observed with <20 mJy rms noise has increased from 130
to 449.

Astrophysics