HD 114762

The HD 114762 system hosts an object proposed as an extra-solar planet candidate which would have been the first exoplanet discovered, but which has since been classified as a star. The system is now considered a multiple star system consisting of an F-type star and two smaller stars, each of the latter two either a red dwarf or brown dwarf.

The first of the latter two was proposed in 1989, based upon the radial velocity method, and its existence was confirmed in 1991. Its early mass determination of 11 Jupiter masses was small enough to consider it to be a planet, but subsequent observation and analysis determine it to be far more massive, 147 Jupiter masses. The defined difference between a red dwarf and a brown dwarf is whether the object ever has or will experience hydrogen burning, but this is challenging to determine: their mass ranges overlap and some spectral types can be either. of the two. A second small stellar companion (making it a triple star) was discovered through direct imaging during follow-up observations. This latest-found companion has a large orbit, making direct imaging of it effective, while the earlier discovered companion is in a small orbit, giving it radial velocity cycle short enough to for practical detection.