\kappa Andromedae is a B9IVn star at 52 pc for which a faint substellar companion separated by 55 \pm 2 AU was recently announced .
In this work , we present the first spectrum of the companion , “ \kappa And B , ” using the Project 1640 high-contrast imaging platform .
Comparison of our low-resolution YJH -band spectra to empirical brown dwarf spectra suggests an early-L spectral type .
Fitting synthetic spectra from PHOENIX model atmospheres to our observed spectrum allows us to constrain the effective temperature to \sim 2000Â K , as well as place constraints on the companion surface gravity .
Further , we use previously reported log ( g ) Â and T _ { eff } Â measurements of the host star to argue that the \kappa And system has an isochronal age of 220 \pm 100 Myr , older than the 30 Myr age reported previously .
This interpretation of an older age is corroborated by the photometric properties of \kappa And B , which appear to be marginally inconsistent with other 10-100 Myr low-gravity L-dwarfs for the spectral type range we derive .
In addition , we use Keck aperture masking interferometry combined with published radial velocity measurements to rule out the existence of any tight stellar companions to \kappa And A that might be responsible for the system ’ s overluminosity .
Further , we show that luminosity enhancements due to a nearly “ pole-on ” viewing angle coupled with extremely rapid rotation is unlikely . \kappa And A is thus consistent with its slightly evolved luminosity class ( IV ) and we propose here that \kappa And , with a revised age of 220 \pm 100 Myr , is an interloper to the 30 Myr Columba association with which it was previously associated .
The photometric and spectroscopic evidence for \kappa And B combined with our re-assesment of the system age implies a substellar companion mass of 50 ^ { +16 } _ { -13 } M _ { Jup } , consistent with a brown dwarf rather than a planetary mass companion .