the maser output. Line narrowing Exponential gain also amplifies the centre of the line shape (Gaussian or Lorentzian, etc.) more than the edges or wings. This results in an emission line shape that is much taller but not much wider. This makes the line appear narrower relative to the unamplified line. Saturation The exponential growth in intensity of radiation passing through a maser cloud continues as long as pumping processes can maintain the population inversion against the growing losses by stimulated emission. While this is so the maser is said to be unsaturated. However, after a point, the population inversion cannot be maintained any longer and the maser becomes saturated. In a saturated maser, amplification of radiation depends linearly on the size of population inversion and the path length. Saturation of one transition in a maser can affect the degree of inversion in other transitions in the same maser, an effect known as competitive gain. High brightness The brightness temperature of a maser is the temperature a black body would have if producing the same emission brightness at the wavelength of the maser. That is, if an object had a temperature of about 109K it would produce as much 1665-MHz radiation as a strong interstellar OH maser. Of course, at 109K the OH molecule would dissociate (kT is greater than the bond energy), so the brightness temperature is not indicative of the kinetic temperature of the maser gas but is nevertheless useful in describing maser emission. Masers have incredible effective temperatures, many around 109K, but some of up to 1012K and even 1014K. Polarisation An important aspect of maser study is polarisation of the emission. Astronomical masers are often very highly polarised, sometimes 100% (in the case of some OH masers) in a circular fashion, and to a lesser degree in a linear fashion. This polarisation is due to some combination of the Zeeman effect, magnetic beaming of the maser radiation, and anisotropic pumping which favours certain magnetic-state transitions. Many of the characteristics of megamaser emission are different. Maser environments Comets Comets are small bodies (5 to 15 km diameter) of frozen volatiles (e.g., water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and methane) embedded in a crusty silicate filler that orbit the Sun in eccentric orbits. As they approach the Sun, the volatiles vaporise to form a halo and later a tail around the nucleus. Once vaporised, these molecules can form inversions and