Systematic search for MOLsphere

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Although water molecules are believed to be present only in stars whose surface temperatures are less than 3000 K, they are discovered in rather high-temperature stars. In order to clarify in which stars do water molecules exist, we made a systematic search for water molecules. Observations of water molecules in celestial objects are rather difficult from normal observational sites because of the absorption of water molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. Observation becomes possible at 5640m altitude where we have built a 1m telescope.We found that for the M giant stars in the Large Magellan Cloud the tendency that the presence of water molecules is increased as the temperature becomes lower but not all low-temperature stars show water molecules. We also found that water molecules are present in one high-temperature star.