The Complex Protostellar Source IRAS 04325+2402

We report Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared NICMOS observations of aremarkable low-luminosity Class I (protostellar) source in the Taurus MolecularCloud. IRAS 04325+2402 exhibits a complex bipolar scattered light nebula. Thecentral continuum source is resolved and may be multiple, or may be crossed bya small dust lane. Complex arcs seen in scattered light surround the centralsource; the physical nature of these structures is not clear, but they mayreflect perturbations from multiple stellar sources or from time-dependent massejection. A second, resolved continuum source is found at a projected distanceof approximately 1150 AU from the central region, near the edge of a nebularlobe probably produced by outflow. The images indicate that this second sourceis another low-luminosity young stellar object, seen nearly edge-on through adusty disk and envelope system with disk diameter $\sim 60$ AU. We suggest thatthe scattered light ``streaks'' associated with this second source arelimb-brightened outflow cavities in the dusty envelope, possibly perturbed byinteraction with the outflow lobes of the main source. The nature of thecompanion is uncertain, since it is observed mostly in scattered light, but ismost probably a very low mass star or brown dwarf, with a minimum luminosity of$\sim 10^{-2} \lsun$. Our results show that protostellar sources may havemultiple centers of infall and non-aligned disks and outflows, even onrelatively small scales.Comment: 14 pages and 8 encapsulated PostScript figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa