2004PASP..116...22L

The Pisgah Survey, located at the facilities of the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman, North Carolina, is a low-cost project to acquire fully automated I-band photometry of selected areas of the sky. The survey collects multiple images of ∼16.5 deg² of sky per night, searching for variability in stars with apparent magnitudes brighter than I∼15. The main scientific goal of this project is to discover new low-mass detached eclipsing binaries in order to provide precise constraints to the mass-radius relation for the lower main sequence. In this paper we present a technical description of the project, including the software routines used to automate the collection and analysis of the data, and a description of our variable identification strategy. We prove the feasibility of our technique by showing the successful detection of the previously known M dwarf detached eclipsing binary GJ 2069A, and we present the results of the analysis of the first set of fields imaged by the survey, in which 15 new variables have been discovered among 8201 stars monitored. The paper concludes with an outline of the project's prospects.