Discovery of the widest very low mass binary

We report the discovery of a very low mass binary system ( primary mass < 0.1M(circle dot)) with a projected separation of similar to 5100 AU, more than twice that of the widest previously known system. A spectrum covering the 1 - 2.5 mu m wavelength interval at is R similar to 1700 presented for each component. Analysis of the spectra indicates spectral types of M6.5 V and M8 V, and the photometric distance of the system is similar to 62 pc. Given that previous studies have established that no more than 1% of very low mass binary systems have orbits larger than 20 AU, the existence of such a wide system has a bearing on very low mass star formation and evolution models.