Infrared polarimetry and imaging of ultracompact partially ionized optical sources in the orion nebula

Hubble Space Telescope images of the Orion nebula taken with the Wide-Field Camera have revealed subarcsecond structure in several dozen objects which are apparently ionized externally from nearby stars. We have obtained near-IR images and IR polarimetry of the Orion region to search for correlations with the WFC objects. We find that all of the ultracompact WFC objects are associated with IR features of some sort, and that some are associated with strongly polarized IR emission. The object with strongest polarization also shows small IR lobes. In addition, we find some previously unreported sources, showing polarized IR emission, outside the field of the HST images, which we believe may be the same sorts of object. We note that the object with strongest polarization has a double-lobed appearance in the K band image.