2017RNAAS...1...42B

We report the discovery of a widely-separated low-mass binary as a candidate member of the ∼40 Myr Argus Association. Resolved imaging and astrometry with 2MASS and LDSS-3 reveal a common proper motion pair of red sources separated by 4.23"±0.11", with the secondary roughly one magnitude fainter at i, z and J. Resolved spectroscopy indicates component types of M8pec and M9pec, the peculiarities arising from weak Na I and strong VO absorption characteristic of low gravity sources. With its small proper motion and estimated 75±25 pc distance, the BANYAN II tool indicates a membership probability of 93% in Argus, which would be consistent with a pair of brown dwarfs of mass ∼0.04 M_☉ separated by ∼300 AU.