  We have carried out high angular resolution near-infrared imaging and
low-resolution (R~1000) spectroscopy of the nearest known brown dwarf, Eps Indi
B, using the ESO VLT NAOS/CONICA adaptive optics system. We find it to be a
close binary (as also noted by Volk et al. 2003) with an angular separation of
0.732 arcsec, corresponding to 2.65AU at the 3.626pc distance of the Eps Indi
system. In our discovery paper (Scholz et al. 2003), we concluded that Eps Indi
B was a ~50Mjup T2.5 dwarf: our revised finding is that the two system
components (Eps Indi Ba and Eps Indi Bb) have spectral types of T1 and T6,
respectively, and estimated masses of 47 and 28Mjup, respectively, assuming an
age of 1.3Gyr. Errors in the masses are +/-10 and +/-7Mjup, respectively,
dominated by the uncertainty in the age determination (0.8-2Gyr range). This
uniquely well-characterised T dwarf binary system should prove important in the
study of low-mass, cool brown dwarfs. The two components are bright and
relatively well-resolved: Eps Indi B is the only T dwarf binary in which
spectra have been obtained for both components. They have a well-established
distance and age. Finally, their orbital motion can be measured on a fairly
short timescale (nominal orbital period 15 yrs), permitting an accurate
determination of the true total system mass, helping to calibrate brown dwarf
evolutionary models.
