Presented here is the Taurus star-forming region, with the background image showing the 100 μm emission as seen by the IRAS satellite, and the insets showing various young stars observed with SPHERE at 1.2–2.1 μm (J, H, K bands). Note that the scales of the insets are not consistent; they have been adjusted for visibility. The largest (AB Aur) spans 9 arcseconds. The 43 objects within the insets, which together represent about a fifth of the planet-forming disks in Taurus, are mostly of similar age (1–3 Myr) but are at diverse evolutionary stages. There are 36 low-mass, nine solar-mass and ten intermediate-mass stars (some systems include multiple stars).

SPHERE observes the light scattered by dust in and around young star systems, and can measure indicative parameters such as the polarized-to-stellar light contrast (α_pol). Using α_pol, Garufi et al. split the sample into three groups: faint disks, bright disks and systems where there is extended emission originating from ambient material. Twenty-seven sources fall into the ‘faint disk’ category (for example, CI Tau and DH Tau). Typically these disks lack any obvious substructure, indicating that the sensitivity and resolution of SPHERE are not sufficient to detect it. In contrast, the eight bright disks (for example, GG Tau, GM Aur) all show evidence of substructure, including cavities, shadows, spirals and streamers. The remaining systems (including T Tau and HP Tau) do not have scattered-light disks. They are probably more evolved systems, with central cavities that allow optical photons to escape. Interestingly, the central portions of Taurus host mostly faint, isolated disks while the outskirts have brighter, interacting disks; this does not seem to be an interstellar extinction effect, but could be related to stellar mass or the evolutionary history of the region.

这里展示的是金牛座恒星形成区域，背景图像显示了 IRAS 卫星看到的 100 μm 发射，插图显示了 SPHERE 在 1.2–2.1 μm 处观察到的各种年轻恒星（ J 、 H 、 K波段）。请注意，插图的比例不一致；它们已针对可见度进行了调整。最大的 (AB Aur) 跨度为 9 角秒。插图中的 43 个天体加起来约占金牛座行星形成盘的五分之一，大部分年龄相似（1-3 迈尔），但处于不同的进化阶段。有 36 颗低质量恒星、9 颗太阳质量恒星和 10 颗中等质量恒星（有些系统包括多颗恒星）。

SPHERE 观测年轻恒星系统内部和周围的尘埃散射的光，并可以测量指示性参数，例如偏振光与恒星光的对比度 (α _pol )。使用 α _pol ，Garufi 等人。将样本分为三组：暗盘、亮盘和来自环境材料的扩展发射的系统。有 27 个源属于“微弱磁盘”类别（例如 CI Tau 和 DH Tau）。通常这些磁盘缺乏任何明显的子结构，这表明 SPHERE 的灵敏度和分辨率不足以检测到它。相比之下，八个明亮的圆盘（例如，GG Tau、GM Aur）都显示出亚结构的证据，包括空腔、阴影、螺旋和流光。其余系统（包括 T Tau 和 HP Tau）没有散射光盘。它们可能是更进化的系统，具有允许光学光子逸出的中心空腔。有趣的是，金牛座的中心部分大多是微弱、孤立的圆盘，而外围则有更明亮、相互作用的圆盘。这似乎不是星际灭绝效应，但可能与恒星质量或该区域的演化历史有关。