ULTRA-COOL M-DWARFS DISCOVERED BY QSO SURVEYS .1. THE APM OBJECTS

Optical searches for highly redshifted QSOs often use a very red B-R c olor as their main selection criterion. During spectroscopic follow-up , some of the chosen objects are identified not as QSOs but as extreme ly red stars, a fraction of which will prove to be previously unrecogn ized dwarfs lying in the solar vicinity. In this first paper of the se ries, we present standard spectral types and infrared photometry of la te-type stars identified during the QSO search by Irwin, McMahon, & Ha zard. Of the seventeen stars discovered, nine are late-M giants and ei ght are late-M dwarfs. Among these are six ultra-cool dwarfs of type M 7 or later, some of which are rediscoveries of previously catalogued ( and subsequently forgotten) proper motion stars. (C) 1997 American Ast ronomical Society.