We report on 2MASS J01542930+0053266 , a faint eclipsing system composed of two M dwarfs .
The variability of this system was originally discovered during a pilot study of the 2MASS Calibration Point Source Working Database .
Additional photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey yields an 8–passband lightcurve , from which we derive an orbital period of 2.6390157 \pm 0.0000016 days .
Spectroscopic followup confirms our photometric classification of the system , which is likely composed of M0 and M1 dwarfs .
Radial velocity measurements allow us to derive the masses ( M _ { 1 } = 0.66 \pm 0.03 M _ { \odot } ; M _ { 2 } = 0.62 \pm 0.03 M _ { \odot } ) and radii ( R _ { 1 } = 0.64 \pm 0.08 R _ { \odot } ; R _ { 2 } = 0.61 \pm 0.09 R _ { \odot } ) of the components , which are consistent with empirical mass–radius relationships for low–mass stars in binary systems .
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of the lightcurves which allow us to uncover complicated degeneracies between the system parameters .
Both stars show evidence of H \alpha emission , something not common in early–type M dwarfs .
This suggests that binarity may influence the magnetic activity properties of low-mass stars ; activity in the binary may persist long after the dynamos in their isolated counterparts have decayed , yielding a new potential foreground of flaring activity for next generation variability surveys .