HLTauri

Explanation of image.

Telescope: Canada-France-Hawaii, f/36
Date: November 19, 1995
Instrument: University of Hawaii 13-channel AO system and 1024x1024 IR camera
Wavelength: composite of HST 0.85 mu (blue) and AO: 1.2 mu(green), and 1.6 mu (red)
Total exposure: 20 min
Scale: 4 arcsec wide
Orientation: North up East to Left
Observers: L.M. Close, F. Roddier, C. Roddier, E. Graves, M. Northcott (HST: K. Stapelfeldt)
Reference: L.M. Close, F. Roddier, C. Roddier, E. Graves, M. Northcott 1997, ApJ 478, 766-777

This is a 3 color image of the young star HL Tau. HL Tau is just clearing away its dusty envelope with its stong (300 km/sec) jets -the bipolar jet runs to the upper left and to the lower right. Note the blue (0.8 um image from HST) bubble above the green (1.2 um AO image) accretion disk. The red light is from a 1.6 um UHAO image which detects the lower faint red bubble below the accretion disk. This is the first direct infrared image of an active accretion disk. The disk is invisible in the optical but is revealed in the IR. The disk size is 150 AU. It is thought that as these disks condence they form planetary systems, hence it is important to image these disks at high resolution. The resolution in this 4x4" image is 0.2" FWHM (30 AU). For more information about our HL Tau paper see Close et al. 1997a, ApJ, 487, 766, 1997