Discovery of a Brown Dwarf Companion to Gliese 570ABC: A 2MASS T Dwarf Significantly Cooler than Gliese 229B

We report the discovery of a widely separated (258 3+/-0 4) T dwarf companion to the Gl 570ABC system. This new component, Gl 570D, was initially identified from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Its near-infrared spectrum shows the 1.6 and 2.2 µm CH4 absorption bands characteristic of T dwarfs, while...

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Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2000-03, Vol.531 (1), p.L57-L60
Main Authors: Burgasser, Adam J, Kirkpatrick, J. Davy, Cutri, Roc M, McCallon, Howard, Kopan, Gene, Gizis, John E, Liebert, James, Reid, I. Neill, Brown, Michael E, Monet, David G, Dahn, Conard C, Beichman, Charles A, Skrutskie, Michael F
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Language:English
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Summary:We report the discovery of a widely separated (258 3+/-0 4) T dwarf companion to the Gl 570ABC system. This new component, Gl 570D, was initially identified from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Its near-infrared spectrum shows the 1.6 and 2.2 µm CH4 absorption bands characteristic of T dwarfs, while its common proper motion with the Gl 570ABC system confirms companionship. Gl 570D (MJ=16.47+/-0.07) is nearly a full magnitude dimmer than the only other known T dwarf companion, Gl 229B, and estimates of L= 2.8+/-0.3 x10-6 L middle dot in circle and Teff=750+/-50 K make it significantly cooler and less luminous than any other known brown dwarf companion. Using evolutionary models by Burrows et al. and an adopted age of 2-10 Gyr, we derive a mass estimate of 50+/-20 MJup for this object.
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/312522