Discovery of a jet emanating from the protostar HH 24 MMS.

We report the results of new near-IR, radio continuum, and CO(3-2) observations of the immediate surroundings of the strong submillimetre dust source HH 24 MMS. Our near-IR imaging reveals that a short jet of shocked molecular hydrogen is closely associated with the submm clump. The new 3.6cm map shows that at least part of the radio emission is extended, on a scale consistent with the spatial extension of the near-IR jet. We interpret this elongated centimetre emission as free-free radiation from the shock-ionized portion of the jet. Although our CO(3-2) data do not have enough angular resolution to resolve a bipolar outflow in this complex region, they demonstrate that high-velocity molecular gas is associated with HH 24 MMS. Altogether, these results support our earlier claim that the HH 24 MMS clump contains a very young Class 0 protostar.