THERE ARE ~100 KNOWN PLANETS AROUND M DWARFS BUT ONLY ONE SYSTEM AROUND AN ULTRA-COOL (>M7) DWARF: TRAPPIST-1. ULTRA-COOL DWARFS ARE ARGUABLY THE MOST PROMISING HOSTS FOR ATMOSPHERIC AND BIOSIGNATURE DETECTION IN TRANSITING PLANETS BECAUSE OF THE ENHANCED FEATURE CONTRAST IN TRANSIT AND ECLIPSE SPECTROSCOPY. WE SEEK TO CONTINUE A CYCLE 1 TESS SURVEY TO MONITOR 13 OF THE BRIGHTEST ULTRACOOL DWARFS OVER 27.4 DAYS. TO MAXIMIZE THE PROBABILITY OF DETECTING TRANSITING PLANETS WE HAVE SELECTED ONLY TARGETS SEEN CLOSE TO EQUATOR-ON. SPIN-ORBIT ALIGNMENT EXPECTATIONS DICTATE THAT THE PLANETARY SYSTEMS AROUND THESE ULTRA-COOL DWARFS SHOULD ALSO BE ORIENTED NEARLY EDGE-ON. ANY PLANET DETECTIONS IN OUR PILOT SURVEY WILL IMMEDIATELY BECOME TOP PRIORITY TARGETS FOR JWST TRANSIT SPECTROSCOPY.

The American Museum Of Natural History

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