Issue |
A&A
Volume 433, Number 2, April II 2005
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L33 - L36 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200500098 | |
Published online | 22 March 2005 |
Letter to the Editor
HST/NICMOS observations of a proto-brown dwarf candidate
1
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: apai@as.arizona.edu
2
Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
3
NASA Astrobiology Institute
4
Department of Astronomy of the Loránd Eötvös University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
5
Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, PO Box 67, 1525 Budapest, Hungary
6
Astrophysics Missions Division, ESTEC, Keplerlann 1, Norwijk 2201, The Netherlands
Received:
6
December
2004
Accepted:
18
February
2005
We present deep HST/NICMOS observations peering through the outflow cavity
of the protostellar candidate IRAS 04381+2540 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud-1. A young stellar object as central source,
a jet and a very faint and close () companion are identified.
The primary and the companion have similar colours, consistent
with strong reddening. We argue that the companion is neither a shock-excited knot nor a background star.
The colour/magnitude information predicts a substellar upper mass limit for the companion, but the final confirmation will require spectroscopic information. Because of its geometry, young age and its rare low-mass companion,
this system is likely to provide a unique insight into the formation of brown dwarfs.
Key words: binaries: close / planetary systems: protoplanetary disks / stars: formation / stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs / stars: pre-main sequence
© ESO, 2005
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