Erick Young — Page 2

arXiv2001

HST/NICMOS Imaging Survey of the Ophiuchus (Lynds 1688) Cluster

We present a catalogue of near-infrared photometry of young stars associated with the Ophiuchus molecular cloud, based on observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS-3 camera at 1.1 $μ$m and 1.6 $μ$m. Our survey covers 0.02 square degrees centered on the dense molecular cores in Lynds 1688. We detect 165 sources at 1.6 $μ$m and 65 sources at 1.1 $μ$m, within our estimated completeness limits of 21.0 mag and 21.5 mag, respectively. An analysis of the cloud extinction, based on existing molecular line maps, suggests that most of the sources lying within the 40 $\rm{A_V}$ extinction contour of the cloud are probable cloud members. Approximately half (58/108) of these sources are previously unpublished. The faint embedded sources revealed by these observations are spatially concentrated in three regions of high stellar space density (N$> 10^4$ stars pc$^{-3}$). While the spatial distribution of these sources reflects that of the brighter, well--known population of young stars in Ophiuchus, it is distinctly different from the distribution of cool concentrations seen in the submillimeter. Seven new brown dwarf candidates are identified, based on their infrared colors and their projected locations on high column-density regions of the molecular cloud. Eight new candidate binary and five new candidate triple systems, having separations between 0\farcs2 to 10\arcsec (29 to 1450 AU) are reported. The spatial resolution and sensitivity of these observations reveal five apparent disk/envelope systems seen via scattered light, and four nebulous objects with complex morphologies.

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arXiv1997

High-resolution near-infrared imaging of the Orion 114-426 silhouette disk

We present the first high-resolution near-infrared images of the edge-on silhouette circumstellar disk, Orion 114-426, made using NICMOS on the Hubble Space Telescope. Images taken against the bright nebular background of the ionized hydrogen Pa$α$ line at 1.87 micron show the major axis of the disk to be approximately 20% smaller than at 0.6 micron, from which we deduce the structure of the edge of the disk. Continuum images of diffuse polar lobes above and below the plane of the disk show a morphology and evolution with wavelength consistent with predictions for reflection nebulae in a diffuse envelope with large polar cavities, surrounding a thin, massless, Keplerian disk, centered on an otherwise hidden central star. We make use of our observations and reasonable assumptions about the underlying disk structure to show that the disk mass is at least 10 earth masses and plausibly $\geq 5\times 10^{-4}$ solar masses.

astro-ph↗