HD 10697 is a nearby main-sequence star around which a planet candidate has recently been discovered by means of radial-velocity measurements ( Vogt et al .
1999 , submitted to ApJ ) .
The stellar orbit has a period of about three years , the secondary minimum mass is 6.35 Jupiter masses ( M _ { J } ) and the minimum semi-major axis is 0.36 milli-arc-sec ( mas ) .

Using the Hipparcos data of HD 10697 together with the spectroscopic elements of Vogt et al .
( 1999 ) we found a semi-major axis of 2.1 \pm 0.7 mas , implying a mass of 38 \pm 13 M _ { J } for the unseen companion .
We therefore suggest that the secondary of HD 10697 is probably a brown dwarf , orbiting around its parent star at a distance of 2 AU .

\subjectheadings astrometry — planetary systems — stars : individual ( HD 10697 )