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Discovery of the Widest Very Low Mass Binary

Étienne Artigau·David Lafrenière·René Doyon·Loïc Albert·Daniel Nadeau·Jasmin Robert
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Abstract

We report the discovery of a very low mass binary system (primary mass <0.1 Msol) with a projected separation of ~5100 AU, more than twice that of the widest previously known system. A spectrum covering the 1-2.5 microns wavelength interval at R ~1700 is presented for each component. Analysis of the spectra indicates spectral types of M6.5V and M8V, and the photometric distance of the system is ~62 pc. Given that previous studies have established that no more than 1% of very low mass binary systems have orbits larger than 20 AU, the existence of such a wide system has a bearing on very low mass star formation and evolution models.

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Étienne Artigau, David Lafrenière, René Doyon, Loïc Albert, Daniel Nadeau, Jasmin Robert. 2007-02-28. Discovery of the Widest Very Low Mass Binary. https://doi.org/10.1086/516710

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