2002ApJ...574..963J

We have obtained 11.7 and 17.9 µm images at the Keck I telescope of the circumstellar dust emission from OH 231.8+4.2, an evolved mass-losing red giant with a well-studied bipolar outflow. We detect both a central unresolved point source with a diameter of less than 0".5 producing F_ν(17.9µm)=60 Jy and emission extended more than 1" away from the star, which is aligned with the bipolar outflow seen on larger scales. We find that the unresolved central source can be explained by an opaque, flared disk with an outer radius of ∼5x10¹⁵ cm and an outer temperature of ∼130 K. One possible model to explain this flaring is that the material in the disk is orbiting the central star and not simply undergoing a radial expansion.