Five new very low mass binaries

Laboratoire d’´Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation Astrophysique, F-9 2195 Meudon Cedex, FranceReceivedAbstract.We report the discovery of companions to 5 nearby late M dwarfs (>M5), LHS1901, LHS4009, LHS6167,LP869-26 and WT460, and we confirm that the recently discovered mid-T brown dwarf companion to SCR1845-6357 is physically bound to that star. These discoveries result from our adaptive optics survey of all M dwarfswithin 12 pc. The new companions have spectral types M5 to L1, and orbital separations between 1 and 10 AU.They add significantly to the number of late M dwarfs binaries in the immediate solar neighbourhood, and willimprove the multiplicity statistics of late M dwarfs. The expected periods range from 3 to 130 years. Several pairsthus have good potential for accurate mass determination in this poorly sampled mass range.Key words. binaries: visual – stars: low mass, brown dwarfs – techniques: adaptive optics