Spatially resolved atomic and molecular emission from the very low-mass star IRS54.

Molecular outflows from very low-mass stars (VLMSs) and brown dwarfs (BDs) have been studied very little, and only a few objects have been directly imaged. Using VLT SINFONI K-band observations, we spatially resolved, for the first time, the H2 emission around IRS54, a ∼0.1-0.2 M Class I source. The molecular emission shows a complex structure delineating a large outflow cavity and an asymmetric molecular jet. In addition, new [Fe ii] VLT ISAAC observations at 1.644 μm allowed us to discover the atomic jet counterpart which extends down to the central source. The outflow structure is similar to those found in low-mass Class I young stellar objects (YSOs) and Classical TTauri stars (CTTSs). However, its Lacc/Lbol ratio is very high (∼80%), and the derived mass accretion rate is about one order of magnitude higher than in objects with similar mass, pointing to the young nature of the investigated source.