DENIS-P J1228.2-1547 -- A New Benchmark Brown Dwarf

Abstract

We present optical spectroscopy of three brown dwarf candidates identified in the first 1% of the DENIS sky survey. Low resolution spectra from 6430 - 9150A show these objects to have similar spectra to the brown dwarf candidate GD 165B. High resolution spectroscopy shows that one of the objects -- DENIS-P J1228.2-1547 -- has a strong 2.3+-0.05A equivalent width absorption line of Li I 6708A, and is therefore a brown dwarf with mass below 0.065Msol, and age < 1.5 Gyr. DENIS-P J1228.2-1547 can now be considered a proto-type for brown dwarfs closer to the hydrogen burning limit than Gl 229B.

6 pages, 2 figures in Postscript uses AASTeX and epsf.sty. Revised version as accepted by ApJ (in press) Full postscript available at http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/cgt/aaoarea/preprints.html