The Parallax of VHS J1256-1257 from CFHT and Pan-STARRS 1

Abstract

We present new parallax measurements from the CFHT Infrared Parallax Program and the Pan-STARRS 3$\pi$ Steradian Survey for the young ($\approx150-300$ Myr) triple system VHS J125601.92$-$125723.9. This system is composed of a nearly equal-flux binary ("AB") and a wide, possibly planetary-mass companion ("b"). The system's published parallactic distance ($12.7\pm1.0$ pc) implies absolute magnitudes unusually faint compared to known young objects and is in tension with the spectrophotometric distance for the central binary ($17.2\pm2.6$ pc). Our CFHT and Pan-STARRS parallaxes are consistent, and the more precise CFHT result places VHS J1256-1257 at $22.2^{+1.1}_{-1.2}$ pc. Our new distance results in higher values for the companion's mass ($19\pm5$ M$_{\rm Jup}$) and temperature ($1240\pm50$ K), and also brings the absolute magnitudes of all three components into better agreement with known young objects.