Gliese 569B: A young multiple brown dwarf system?

The nearby late M star Gliese 569B was recently found by adaptive optics im aging to be a double with separation similar to1 AU. To explore the orbital motion and masses, we have undertaken a high-resolution (similar to0"05) a strometric study. Images were obtained over 1.5 yr with bispectrum speckle interferometry at the 6.5 m Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and 6 m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope. Our data show motion corresponding to more than half the orbital period and constrain the total mass to be great er than 0.115 M-circle dot, with a most probable value of 0.145 M-circle do t. Higher masses cannot be excluded without more extended observations, but from statistical analysis we find an 80% probability that the total mass i s less than 0.21 M-circle dot. An infrared spectrum of the blended B double obtained with the MMT has been modeled as a blend of two different spectral types, chosen to be consisten t with the measured J- and K-band brightness difference of a factor of simi lar to2. The blended fit is not nearly as good as that to a pure M8.5+ temp late. Therefore, we hypothesize that the brighter component likely has two unresolved components with near equal masses, each the same as the fainter component. If G1 569B is a triple, our dynamical limits suggest each component has a m ass of 50(-4)(+23) M-jup. We infer an age for the system of 300 Myr from it s kinematic motion, which places it as a member of the Ursa Major moving gr oup. All the above parameters are consistent with the latest DUSTY evolutio n models for brown dwarfs.