G 196-3 is a young low-mass M dwarf type star which is about 100 million years old. The star is located within the Ursa Major constellation about 71.1 light years away^[1] from the Earth. During observations by Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Tenerife, Spain in 1998, a substellar-mass object was discovered to orbit approximately 300 astronomical units (AU) from the star. It was detected using direct imaging.^[2][3][4][5]

Substellar companion

Observations of the substellar object were performed on January 25, 1998 where a faint red companion was present 16.2 arc seconds southwest of the star. A comparison of images taken at different wavelengths was done using low-intermediate-resolution spectroscopy confirmed the presence of a substellar object which was named G 196-3B. The Further observations confirmed the discovery when the team of Rafael Rebolo obtained R & I broadband photometry on March 19, 1998. The TCS Telescope showed its very cool nature in near-infrared (K Band). The comparison of the optical and infrared magnitudes including dust condensation has allowed astronomers to conclude that the substellar object was 25–10+15 Jupiter masses or simply 25 masses that of the Jovian-planet Jupiter. This was the second^[6][7] discovery of a brown dwarf that was found around a low-mass star whose age^[8] was relatively young. The separation of the star and the substellar object has suggested that both were parts of a fragment from a collapsing cloud although another possible scenario suggests that it originated from a dissipated protoplanetary disk.^{[9][2][10][11][12][13]}