L1551NE—Discovery of a Binary Companion

L1551NE is a very young (class 0 or I) low-mass protostar located close to the well-studied L1551 IRS 5. Here we present evidence, from 1.3 mm continuum interferometric observations at approximately 1&arcsec; resolution, for a binary companion to L1551NE. The companion, whose 1.3 mm flux density is approximately 13 that of the primary component, is located 1&farcs;43 ( approximately 230 AU at 160 pc) to the southeast. The millimeter-wave emission from the primary component may have been just barely resolved, with a deconvolved size of approximately 0&farcm;82x0&farcm;70 ( approximately 131x112 AU). The companion emission was unresolved (<100 AU). The pair is embedded within a flattened circumbinary envelope of size approximately 5&farcm;4x2&farcm;3 ( approximately 860x370 AU). The masses of the three components (i.e., from the circumstellar material of the primary star and its companion and the envelope) are approximately 0.044, 0.014, and 0.023 M middle dot in circle, respectively.