Research Note

Quiescent and flaring X-ray emission from the nearby M/T dwarf binary SCR 1845-6357

Universität Hamburg, Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany e-mail: jrobrade@hs.uni-hamburg.de

Received: 4 November 2009
Accepted: 9 February 2010

Abstract

Aims. X-ray emission is an important diagnostics to study magnetic activity in very low mass stars that are presumably fully convective and have an effectively neutral photosphere.

Methods. We investigate an XMM-Newton observation of SCR 1845-6357, a nearby, ultracool M 8.5 / T 5.5 dwarf binary. The binary is unresolved in the XMM detectors, but the X-ray emission is very likely from the M 8.5 dwarf. We compare its flaring emission to those of similar very low mass stars and additionally present an XMM observation of the M 8 dwarf VB 10.

Results. We detect quasi-quiescent X-ray emission from SCR 1845-6357 at soft X-ray energies in the 0.2–2.0 keV band, as well as a strong flare with a count rate increase of a factor of 30 and a duration of only 10 min. The quasi-quiescent X-ray luminosity of log L_X = 26.2 erg/s and the corresponding activity level of log L_X/L_bol = –3.8 point to a fairly active star. Coronal temperatures of up to 5 MK and frequent minor variability support this picture. During the flare, which is accompanied by a significant brightening in the near-UV, plasma temperatures of 25–30 MK are observed and an X-ray luminosity of L_X = 8 × 10²⁷ erg/s is reached.

Conclusions. The source SCR 1845-6357 is a nearby, very low mass star that emits X-rays at detectable levels in quasi-quiescence, implying the existence of a corona. The high activity level, coronal temperatures and the observed large flare point to a rather active star, despite its estimated age of a few Gyr.