HD 114762

The HD 114762 multiple star system includes an object once considered 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 triple star consisting of an F-type star and two smaller stars, each of the latter two either a red dwarf or brown dwarf.

The early-proposed exoplanet-candidate was discovered 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 be considered a planet, but subsequent observation and analysis determine it to be more massive, likely 147 Jupiter masses. The second small stellar companion was discovered through direct imaging during follow-up observations and also initially an exoplanet-candidate, but spectrography and the likely mass that it implies suggest it is a star. It has a large orbit, making direct imaging (and spectrography) of it effective, while the earlier discovered companion is in a small orbit, giving it a radial velocity cycle short enough for practical detection.

Each of the companions is determined to be either a red dwarf or a brown dwarf; the defined difference is whether the object ever has or will experience hydrogen burning, but this is sometimes unclear: the mass ranges of red and brown dwarfs overlap and some spectral types can be either of the two. Also, the companions' masses are not precisely known: only a calculated probability density function based upon observable data.