THERE ARE ~50 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 PROPOSE A PILOT TESS SURVEY TO CONTINUOUSLY MONITOR SIX OF THE BRIGHTEST ULTRA-COOL 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.
$46,859FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The American Museum Of Natural History