THE SAINT-EX PROJECT: Searching for terrestrial planets around ultra-cool stars

ROMINA PETRUCCI; YILEN GÓMEZ MAQUEO CHEW; BRICE OLIVIER DEMORY; LAURENCE SABIN

Pasadena

Workshop; 2018 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop; 2018

Caltech

In this contribution, we present the current status of the SAINT-EX (Searching And characterisINgTransiting EXoplanets) project that arises from the collaboration between the SAINT-EX Consortium andthe Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). This venture has two main scienceobjectives: i) To search for terrestrial planets orbiting ultra-cool stars, similar to the TRAPPIST-1 system,ii) To give ground-based support for the ESA CHEOPS space mission.In order to achieve these goals, a fully robotic facility hosting a 1-m telescope is to be installed at theNational Astronomical Observatory of Mexico, in San Pedro Martir. The facility's first light is foreseenin Summer 2018 and will be used to perform a photometric follow-up of Northern Hemisphere stars in thesearch for signals of planetary transits.