THE HH34 JET/COUNTERJET SYSTEM AT 1.5 AND 4.5μm

Abstract

We present a (previously unpublished) 1.5µm archival HST image of the HH 34 Herbig-Haro jet, in which the northern counterjet is seen at an unprecedented angular resolution of ≈ 0.1′′ (this counterjet had only been imaged previously at lower resolution with Spitzer). The jet/counterjet structure observed in this image shows evidence of low-amplitude, point-symmetric deviations from the outflow axis, indicating the presence of a precession in the ejection direction. We use the ratios between the 1.5 and 4.5 µm intensities of the emitting knots (from the HST image and from a previously published 4.5 µm Spitzer image) to obtain an estimate of the spatial dependence of the optical extinction to the HH 34 jet/counterjet system. We find evidence for extinction from a central, dense core surrounding the outflow source and from a more extended region in the foreground of the HH 34 counterjet.