Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Imaging of FS Tauri and Haro 6-5B

Abstract

We have observed the field of FS Tauri (Haro 6-5) with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on the Hubble Space Telescope. Centered on Haro 6-5B and adjacent to the nebulous binary system of FS Tauri A there is an extended complex of reflection nebulosity that includes a diffuse, hourglass-shaped structure. H6-5B, the source of a bipolar jet, is not directly visible but appears to illuminate a compact, bipolar nebula which we assume to be a protostellar disk similar to HH 30. The bipolar jet appears twisted, which explains the unusually broad width measured in ground-based images. We present the first resolved photometry of the FS Tau A components at visual wavelengths. The fluxes of the fainter, eastern component are well matched by a 3360 K blackbody with an extinction of A_V = 8. For the western star, however, any reasonable, reddened blackbody energy distribution underestimates the K-band photometry by over 2 mag. This may indicate errors in the infrared photometry or errors in our visible measurements due to bright reflection nebulosity very close to the star. The binary was separated by 0."239 ± 0."005 at a position angle of 84° ± 1."5 on 1996 January 25. There is no nebulosity around FS Tau A at the orientation suggested for a disk based on previous, ground-based polarization measurements.

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