# New Near-Infrared Imaging and Spectroscopy of NGC 2071-IR

## TL;DR

This study provides high-resolution near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of NGC 2071-IR, identifying key sources and outflows, and analyzing their properties to understand star formation activities in the region.

## Contribution

First detailed near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of NGC 2071-IR, revealing new sources, binary systems, and insights into outflow origins and orientations.

## Key findings

- Identified two new infrared sources, one coincident with VLA-1.
- Detected high extinction and dense molecular gas around IRS 1 and IRS 3.
- Supported IRS 1 as the source of an E-W outflow and suggested IRS 3's outflow may precess.

## Abstract

We present high resolution images of NGC 2071-IR in the $J$, $H$, and $K$ bands and in the emission at 2.12 $\mu$m of the v=$1-0$ $S$(1) line of molecular hydrogen. We also present moderate resolution K-band spectra of two young stellar objects, IRS 1 and IRS 3, within NGC 2071-IR, that are candidates sources of one or more of the outflows observed in the region. Two of the eight originally identified infrared point sources in NGC 2071-IR are binaries, and we identifiy two new sources, one coincident with the radio source VLA-1 and highly reddened. The H2 $Q$(3)/$S$(1) line intensity ratios at IRS 1 and IRS 3 yield high and very high extinctions, respectively, to them, as is implied by their near-infrared colors and K-band continuum slopes. The spectra also reveal the presence of hot, dense circumstellar molecular gas in each, suggesting that both are strong candidates for having energetic molecular outflows. We agree with a previous suggestion that IRS 1 is the likely source of an E-W-oriented outflow and conclude that this outflow is probably largely out of the plane of the sky. We also conclude that if IRS 3 is the source of the large scale NE-SW outflow, as has been previously suggested, its jet/wind must precess in order to explain the angular width of that outflow. We discuss the natures of the point sources and their probable contributions, if any, to the complex morphology of the H2 line emission.