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[45.06] Understanding IRAS 4381+2540: Self-consistent Models of Scattered Light Images and Spectral Energy Distributions

E.A. Hoversten (Iowa State University), N. Calvet, L. Hartmann (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

We present 1.6 micron and 2.05 micron images of IRAS 4381+2540 obtained with NICMOS2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. IRAS 4381+2540 is a Class I object in Taurus still surrounded by an infalling envelope. The high resolution NICMOS images reveal that the source is a binary, with a mean separation of approximately 80 AU; both members of the binary are immersed in a common envelope. Near-infrared scattered light image models for the dusty envelope used in tandem with spectral energy distribution calculations, including the dust thermal emission, allow us to constrain estimates of system inclination, envelope density and the amount of flattening in the initial cloud of IRAS 4381+2540 further than with either technique alone. We also show that a small polar cavity, suggested by the images, can exist within constraints of the calculations. This research was made possible by the SAO Summer Intern Program funded in part by NSF.