On the nature of V 589 Sagittarii

We present optical and near infrared spectroscopy of the symbiotic star candidate V 589 Sgr. The presence of TiO and VO absorption bands, along with strong H I and He I emissions, confirm the symbiotic star classification, although the primary is clearly rather cooler than is common in symbiotics. Following standard spectroscopic methods, a spectral type of M4 III is derived for the cool component, along with a distance of 8 kpc.