Gas and dust in the pre-main-sequence multiple system GG Tauri

We present 1.4 and 2.7 mm aperture synthesis maps of the gas and dust continuum emission around GG Tauri, a very young component of a pre-main-sequence multiple star system; both GG Tau and its apparent companion, GG Tau/c, at 1500 AU separation, are themselves binaries. At 1.4 mm, dust continuum emission ∼750 AU in extent is associated with GG Tau, and a secondary peak is near GG Tau/c. Spectral line images in the (1→0) and (2→1) transitions of ¹³CO reveal gaseous structure around GG Tau, elongated along the GG Tau-GG Tau/c axis (P.A. ≈ 184°). There is some suggestion that the gas associated with GG Tau/c alone is extended in a different direction (P.A. ∼ 90°-135°). Marked changes in the morphology and velocity structure of the molecular emission near GG Tau/c also indicate that this system is differently oriented. Clumps between the two systems may be vestiges of a connecting bar. GG Tau and GG Tau/c appear to have originated in a common cloud; their different systemic orientations suggest that they formed from an initially prolate cloud rather than from an extensive (≥ 1500 AU), highly flattened disk.