The Perkins INfrared Exosatellite Survey. I.

PINES is performed with Boston University's 1.8m Perkins Telescope Observatory, located on Anderson Mesa, Arizona. We discuss the observational strategy of the survey, which was designed to optimize the number of expected transit detections, and describe custom automated observing procedures for performing PINES observations.

We detail the steps of the PINES Analysis Toolkit (PAT), software that is used to create light curves from PINES images. We assess the impact of second-order extinction due to changing precipitable water vapor on our observations and find that the magnitude of this effect is minimized in Mauna Kea Observatories J band. We demonstrate the validity of PAT through the recovery of a transit of WASP-2b and known variable brown dwarfs, and use it to identify a new variable L/T transition object: the T2 dwarf WISE J045746.08-020719.2.