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Using speckle interferometric techniques, we have measured the spatial distribution of light in two infrared colors around the carbon star IRC +10216. At 2.2 fxm the visibility data indicate that the brightness distribution is elongated at approximately P.A. = 20°, which is similar to the orientation seen in early photographs at shorter wavelengths. At 10.3 jxm the distribution is more nearly circular. A possible slight elongation occurs in the visibility data at approximately P.A. = 90°.We have also measured phases in the image using the Knox-Thompson algorithm. The 10.3 jxm one-dimensional images reconstructed from these phases and the visibilities show that the source is extended at all orientations. No reflection asymmetry is apparent with respect to the center. There is less clear evidence in these reconstructed images than in the visibility data for any departure from circular symmetry at 10.3 fxm. The 2.2 jxm one-dimensional images, however, do exhibit the same departure from circular symmetry shown by the visibility data. The reconstructed images show that there is a general enhancement in the brightness distribution concentrated toward the north-northeast with the star offset to the south-southwest in the envelope.We discuss our speckle interferometry in light of an old suggestion by Serkowski that IRC +10216 is surrounded by a bipolar nebula.

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