William E. Kunkel announced that Luyten 789-6 was a flare star in 1972, after having observed seven flares.[14] It was given its variable star designation, EZ Aquarii, in 1978.[15]
The configuration of the inner binary pair may permit a circumbinary planet to orbit near their habitable zone, however no exoplanets have yet been observed.[16] EZ Aquarii is approaching the Solar System and, in about 32,300 years, will be at its minimal distance of about 8.2 ly (2.5 pc) from the Sun.[17] The ChView simulation shows that currently its nearest neighbouring star is Lacaille 9352 at about 4.1 ly (1.3 pc) from EZ Aquarii.
System
All three components are M-typered dwarfs. The pair EZ Aquarii AC form a spectroscopic binary with a 3.8-day orbit and a 0.03 AU separation. This pair share an orbit with EZ Aquarii B that has an 823-day period.[19] The A and B components of Luyten 789-6 together emit X-rays.[20]
EZ Aquarii A
This star is a red dwarf of type M5V[3] which has a mass of 0.1187±0.0011 solar masses.[8] It has a parallax of 293.6±0.9 mas.[21] Its period in days around EZ Aquarii C is 3.786516±0.000005 d with an eccentricity of 0 which together make up the primary of the system.[21] It has an absolute magnitude at wavelengths centered at 5500 Angstroms of 15.33 making it the brightest of the three.[3] Some alternate designations for it are EZ Aqr, GL 866A, L 789-6 A and LHS 68.
EZ Aquarii B
There is less known about this star compared to A. Its type is likely a type MV[3] with a mass of 0.1145±0.0012 solar masses.[8] It orbits the AC system with a period of 822.6±0.2 d at an eccentricity of 0.439±0.001.[21] It has an absolute magnitude of 15.58, making it dimmer than A but brighter than C.[3] Some alternate designations for it are GL 866B and L 789-6 B.
EZ Aquarii C
Like the other two, this star is likely a type MV[3] with a mass of 0.0930±0.0008 solar masses.[8] It orbits A in a period of 3.786516±0.000005 d with a nearly circular orbit.[21] It is the dimmest of the three with an absolute magnitude of 17.37.[3] An alternate designation for it is GL 866C.
^Zacharias, N.; Finch, C. T.; Girard, T. M.; Henden, A.; Bartlett, J. L.; Monet, D. G.; Zacharias, M. I. (2012). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: UCAC4 Catalogue (Zacharias+, 2012)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: I/322A. Originally Published in: 2012yCat.1322....0Z; 2013AJ....145...44Z. 1322. Bibcode:2012yCat.1322....0Z.
^Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1: B/gcvs. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
^Jevremovic, D.; Butler, C. J.; Drake, S. A.; O'Donoghue, D. (October 1998). "Ultraviolet and optical flares on GL 866". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 338: 1057–1065. Bibcode:1998A&A...338.1057J.
^Delfosse, Xavier; et al. (October 1999). "Accurate masses of very low mass stars. II. The very low mass triple system GL 866". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 350: L39–L42. arXiv:astro-ph/9909409. Bibcode:1999A&A...350L..39D.