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M. Robberto (ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute), S. V. W. Beckwith, R. B. Makidon (Space Telescope Science Institute), N. Panagia (ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute)
We present the first U and B band images of the Orion Nebula obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 in mid-March 2001. U and B band imaging offers both the highest spatial resolution and sensitivity to the variations of the column density. Our images are used to study a variety of sources located in the core of the Orion Nebula cluster, such us the photoionized proplyds and the dark silhouette disks. With a sensitivity limit [U]~q22, these images also enable us to discover young cores and new, fainter silhouette disks, possibly in a more advanced evolutionary phase.
For sources with known reddening and spectral types, U band photometry is used to derive the disk accretion rates. The correlation of the accretion rates with quantities like mass, age, position, etc. provides fundamental insights on the star formation process in Orion.