The nearest X-ray emitting protostellar jet observed with HST

The HH 154 jet coming from the YSO binary L1551 IRS5 is one of the closest (about 150 pc) astrophysical jet known. It is therefore a unique laboratory for studies of outflow mechanisms and of the shocks forming at the interaction front between the expanding material and the ambient medium. The substructures (knots) observed within the HH 154 jet were imaged in several spectral bands using the Hubble Space Telescope. This allows us to derive a simple characterization of the physical conditions in different structures as well as to measure the proper motion of the knots in the jet, their flux variability and shock emission over a time base of about ten years. These knots in the jet undergo si…