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Triple star system in the constellation Coma Berenices From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HD 114762 is a triple star system[3][4] approximately 125 light-years (38.2 pc) away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It consists of a yellow-white F-type main-sequence star (HD 114762 A) and two red dwarf companions (HD 114762 Ab & HD 114762 B) approximately 0.36 & 130 AU distant.[3][4] Both are low-metal subdwarfs. Planets around such metal-poor stars are rare (three known cases are HD 22781, HD 111232, and HD 181720).[9] A telescope or strong binoculars are needed to view the primary. HD 114762 had been used by scientists as a "standard star", one whose radial velocity is well established, but with the discovery of the spectroscopic companion HD 114762 Ab its usefulness as a standard has been called into question.[10]
The red dwarf companion is classified as an ultra-cool dwarf, with a spectral type around M9.[5] With a visual magnitude of 15 and separated from the primary by only three arcseconds, it can only be seen with a powerful telescope.[3] It is estimated to be around 10 billion years old, although the properties of such low-mass stars are very similar across a wide range of ages. It is calculated have only 8% of the mass of the Sun, a tenth of its radius, and with a temperature of about 2,645 K it produces less than a thousandth of its luminosity.[5]
In 1989, a companion object, HD 114762 Ab, was found orbiting HD 114762 A by Latham, et al., using Doppler spectroscopy,[11] but its existence was not confirmed until 1991 by Cochran, et al.[12] Its orbital distance and revolution is similar to that of Mercury, though it has twice the eccentricity.[12] It has a minimum mass of 10.69 MJ, and thus was originally thought to be a massive exoplanet; however, in 2019, its inclination was determined by Gaia astrometry, giving it a true mass of 107 MJ. This makes it a red dwarf star, or a massive brown dwarf.[4] A 2020 study provided further confirmation of this, and revised the mass upwards to 147 MJ,[7] and in 2022 this mass was revised upwards still further, to 0.293 M☉, based on Gaia DR3 data and a similar upwards revision to the mass of the primary star.[6]
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