Abstract

Based on 14 data points obtained with near-infrared speckle interferometry and covering an almost entire revolution, we present a first visual orbit for the low-mass binary system Gliese 22 AC. The quality of the orbit is largely improved with respect to previous astrometric solutions. The dynamical system mass is $0.592\pm 0.065\,M_{\odot}$, where the largest part of the error is due to the Hipparcos parallax. A comparison of this dynamical mass with mass-luminosity relations on the lower main sequence and theoretical evolutionary models for low-mass objects shows that both probably underestimate the masses of M dwarfs. A mass estimate for the companion Gliese 22 C indicates that this object is a very low-mass star with a mass close to the hydrogen burning mass limit.

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