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A. C. Schwortz (Alfred University), E. F. Ladd (Bucknell University)
The I04181 star forming region in Taurus contains three near infrared point sources with steep near-infrared colors (J-K > 4). Far-infrared emission from these sources has been detected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), but because these sources are located in close proximity to one another, IRAS was unable to resolve them and it is difficult to attribute far-infrared fluxes to each individual source.
We have used the HiRes image enhancement algorithm developed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) to obtain estimates of the far-infrared fluxes from each of these three sources. Our analysis indicates that the observed far-infrared emission comes from only two of the three near-infrared sources, and that the third source emits very little far-infrared flux.
The two far-infrared emitting sources have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) consistent with typical Class I sources in Taurus. The North source has fluxes of approximately 0.3 Jy at 12 microns, 0.8 Jy at 25 microns, and 3.4 Jy at 60 microns. The South source has fluxes of of approximately 0.4 Jy at 12 microns, 1.0 Jy at 25 microns, and 2.9 Jy at 60 microns. The third source is unusual in that it has very steep near-infrared colors typical of a Class I source, but no detectable far-infrared emission (upper limits of 0.1 Jy at 12 and 25 microns). We speculate that this source is a more evolved young stellar object located on the far side of the star forming region, and that its SED suffers a large amount of interstellar extinction as it passes through the intervening dense material. We have successfully modeled the SED of this source as that of a classical T-Tauri star extinguished by 40 magnitudes of interstellar material.