This image of IRAS 04016+2610 shows a very young star still deep within its dusty cocoon. The star is visible as a bright reddish spot at the base of the bowl-shaped nebula, which is about 1000 AU across at the widest point. The nebula arises from dusty material falling onto a forming circumstellar disk, seen as a partial dark band to the left of the star. The bright spots above the star is an image artifact.

Image taken with the HST's NICMOS camera, in the constellation of Taurus, 140 pc away. Most of the nebulae represent small dust particles around the stars, which are seen because they are reflecting starlight. In the colour-coding, regions of greatest dust concentration appear red.

All photo credits: D. Padgett (IPAC/Caltech), W. Brandner (IPAC), K. Stapelfeldt (JPL) and NASA.
Taken from STSci Press Releases 9/2/99

Last Updated: 12 February 1999

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