  L1551NE is a very young (class 0 or I) low-mass protostar located close to
the well-studied L1551 IRS5. We present here evidence, from 1.3mm continuum
interferometric observations at ~1'' resolution, for a binary companion to
L1551NE. The companion, whose 1.3mm flux density is ~1/3 that of the primary
component, is located 1.43'' (~230 A.U. at 160pc) to the southeast. The
millimeterwave emission from the primary component may have been just barely
resolved, with deconvolved size ~0.82"x0.70" (~131x112 A.U.). The companion
emission was unresolved (<100 A.U.). The pair is embedded within a flattened
circum-binary envelope of size ~5.4'' x 2.3'' (~860 x 370 A.U.). The masses of
the three components (i.e. from the cicumstellar material of the primary star
and its companion, and the envelope) are approximately 0.044, 0.014 and 0.023
Mo respectively.

Astrophysics