| Issue |
A&A
Volume 366, Number 3, February II 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | L13 - L17 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010001 | |
| Published online | 15 February 2001 | |
New neighbours:
II. An M9 dwarf at 
4 pc, DENIS-P J104814.7-395606.1*
1
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
2
LAOG, Observatoire de Grenoble, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble, France
3
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamaloha Highway, Kamuela, HI 96743, USA
4
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
5
Centre d'Analyse des Images de l'INSU, 61 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
6
Observatoire de Paris (DASGAL/UMR-8633), 75014 Paris, France
7
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
8
Observatoire de Nice, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
9
DESPA, Observatoire de Paris, 5 place J. Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
10
European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
Corresponding author: X. Delfosse, delfosse@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
Received:
2
November
2000
Accepted:
30
November
2000
We present the discovery of a previously unknown member of the
immediate
solar neighbourhood, DENIS-P J104814.7-395606.1 (hereafter DENIS 1048-39),
identified while
mining the DENIS database for new nearby stars. A HIRES echelle
spectrum obtained with the 10-m Keck telescope shows that it is an
M9 dwarf. DENIS 1048-39 has a very bright apparent magnitude
(
) for its spectral type and colour (
), and
is therefore very nearby. If it is single its
distance is only 
pc, ranking it as between our 12th
and 40th closest
neighbour. It is also the closest star or brown dwarf with a
spectral type later than M7V.
Its proper motion was determined through
comparison of Sky atlas Schmidt plates, scanned by the MAMA microdensitometer,
with the DENIS images. At 1.52´´yr-1 it primarily attests the
closeness of DENIS 1048-39 and hence its
dwarf status.
These characteristics make it an obvious
target for further detailed studies.
Key words: astronomical data base: surveys / astrometry and celestial mechanism: astrometry / stars: low mass, brown dwarfs / stars: late-type
Based on observations made at the European Southern Observatory, and at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the Californian Institute of Technology. Also based on plates scanned with the MAMA microdensitometer (http://dsmama.obspm.fr) developed and operated by INSU/CNRS/Observatoire de Paris.
© ESO, 2001
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