High spatial resolution optical imaging of the multiple T Tauri system LkHα 262/LkHα 263

Abstract

We report high spatial resolution i' band imaging of the multiple T Tauri system LkHα 262/LkHα 263 obtained during the first commissioning period of the Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI) at the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, using its Lucky Imaging mode. AOLI images have provided photometry for each of the two components LkHα 263 A and B (0.41 arcsec separation) and marginal evidence for an unresolved binary or a disc in LkHα 262. The AOLI data combined with previously available and newly obtained optical and infrared imaging show that the three components of LkHα 263 are comoving, that there is orbital motion in the AB pair, and, remarkably, that LkHα 262-263 is a common proper motion system with less than 1 mas yr-1 relative motion. We argue that this is a likely five-component gravitationally bounded system. According to BT-settl models the mass of each of the five components is close to 0.4 M· and the age is in the range 1-2 Myr. The presence of discs in some of the components offers an interesting opportunity to investigate the formation and evolution of discs in the early stages of multiple very low mass systems. In particular, we provide tentative evidence that the disc in 263C could be coplanar with the orbit of 263AB.