A candidate protostellar object in the L 1457/MBM 12 cloud

Abstract

Aims. The association of young T Tauri stars, MBM 12A, indicates that L 1457 was forming stars not too long ago. With our study we want to find out whether there are still signs of ongoing star formation in that cloud. Methods. Using the Max-Planck-Millimeter-Bolometer MAMBO at the IRAM 30 m telescope, we obtained a map of about 8'×8' centered on L 1457 in the dust continuum emission at 230 GHz. Towards the most intense regions in our bolometer map, we obtained spectra at high angular resolution in the CS (2→1) and the N 2H+ (1→0) lines using the IRAM 30 m telescope. Results. We find that the cold dust in L 1457 is concentrated in several small cores with high H2 column densities and solar masses. The density profiles of the cores are inconsistent with a sphere with constant density. These cores are closer to virial equilibrium than is the cloud as a whole. Data from the VLA and Spitzer archives reveal two point sources in the direction of one dust core. One of the sources is probably a distant quasar, whereas the other source is projected right on a local maximum of our dust map and shows characteristics of a protostellar object. © 2010 ESO.