A search for young solar system analogues with the VLT

The VLT/UT1 telescope has been used with its facility near-IR camera ISAAC to obtain 1-2.5 mu m wavelength images at 0." 4 spatial resolution of six s outhern young low luminosity sources associated with extended reflection ne bulosity. Two are in the Chamaeleon I dark cloud (Cha IR nebula, Cederblad 110IRS4), and the other four in the Gum Nebula (HH 46/47, CG 30, Re 4, Re 5 ). Complex structure is seen, including in most cases bipolar blue and red scattering lobes likely due to the illumination of outflow cavities by the central start(s), hidden by a flattened circumstellar disk or envelope. In one object (Re 4), a double jet appears to be emanating from the central so urce, suggestive of a binary system with nearly aligned disks. These images , when supplemented by polarimetry maps, will help determine the structure and geometry of the young stellar objects. and will also be compared to 3D radiative transfer models to match both the surface brightness distribution of the extended emission and the spectral energy distribution of the centr al source. Applied to a series of such objects, these analyses will lead to an improved evolutionary sequence for the formation of solar system analog ues.