TIC 306294675
An uncatalogued eclipsing-binary candidate from TESS.
Eclipsing-binary candidate: 2.9822-day period, a 2.99% primary eclipse, a 1.30% secondary eclipse at phase 0.563.
TIC 306294675 is an eclipsing binary candidate with an orbital period of 2.9822 days. The primary eclipse produces a 2.43% dimming, detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 179.8 using the Box Least Squares method. A secondary eclipse was also detected at 5.6 sigma significance. Pixel-level analysis confirms the signal with a peak signal-to-noise of 24.7, though the centroid offset of 6.6 arcseconds from the target position warrants further investigation. The candidate does not appear in six major variable-star catalogs, making it potentially novel. Automated TESS photometry and image analysis flagged no data quality issues with this candidate.
- Surface brightness ratio
- 0.43
- Companion / star radius
- ~0.17
- Face hidden at primary eclipse
- ~3%
- Separation
- ~9.3 x the star's radius
- Eccentricity
- at least 0.099
- Secondary eclipse phase
- 0.563 measured, 0.563 in this orbit
Zoomed: both stars drawn about 2x larger than their real size relative to the orbit, so they overlap for longer than the real eclipse lasts. A star's surface never gets dimmer during an eclipse - part of it is simply hidden. What drops is the total light we receive, shown exactly by the readout and bar below from the real light curve; the glow dims with it, exaggerated so small dips show. Colours are illustrative. The companion's colour, sizes and orbit shape are estimates from the eclipse depths, duration and timing, assuming central eclipses and spherical stars - good to perhaps tens of percent. Only the relative orbit is shown; both stars really circle their common centre of mass. Animated about 10,736x faster than real on average, slowing down through each eclipse, and starting from where the system is in its orbit right now. Hover to pause.
- Secondary2026-10-20 01:35 UTC
- Primary2026-10-21 08:51 UTC
- Secondary2026-10-23 01:10 UTC
Computed from the fitted ephemeris. Approximate - not corrected for your location or for light-travel time across Earth's orbit.
The signal
A repeating, consistent dip in brightness.
Residual scatter 2.080% (observed minus binned median).
Clear, repeating eclipses with a consistent period and depth.
- Period
- 2.98222 d
- Primary depth
- 2.99%
- Secondary depth
- 1.30%
- Epoch (T0)
- 1570.351 BTJD
- Duration
- 2.88 h
The catalog check
Cross-matched against known variable-star catalogs to rule out anything already listed.
- VSXNot found
- ASAS-SNNot found
- Gaia eclipsing-binary tableNot found
- Gaia variable classificationNot found
- TESS EB catalog (Prsa+2022)Not found
- ExoFOP TOI listNot found
0/6 catalogs list a known variable at this position.
No known variable star or catalogued match at this position.
- Catalogs checked
- 6
- Matches
- 0
The pixel check
Confirms the dimming is on the target star, not a nearby source.
Out/in share one sqrt colour scale; in-eclipse = out-of-eclipse minus difference. TESS sector 10.
- 24.7
- 0.31 px7"
- -0.0050 phase
- TIC 3062946420.54 px, dT 3.0
- 0.97
- 10
The dimming is centred on the target star. No nearby contaminant detected.
- Centroid offset
- 0.31 px
- Difference SNR
- 24.7
- Capable neighbour
- TIC 306294642
- TESS sector
- 10
The Gaia view
A second spacecraft's measurements: how far away the star is, how bright and what colour, and whether its position fits a single star.
Its colour is bluer than the Sun's, which usually means hotter.
Not plotted on the diagram: its distance is not measured well enough to place it.
Gaia note: parallax missing - distance unreliable
Source: ESA Gaia DR3, source 5335252085029449344.
Gaia has no astrometric solution for this source, so it adds no information about extra stars.
- Distance
- not reliable
- Apparent G
- 14.15
- Colour BP-RP
- 0.60
- Match offset
- 0.02 arcsec
The ground-survey check
An independent instrument, different years: does real ZTF photometry show the eclipse at the period TESS measured?
No ZTF observations at this position (declination -60.5 deg) - likely too far south for ZTF's footprint, which covers the sky north of roughly -31 deg. Not a mark against the candidate, just a gap in ground-survey coverage.
Fold it yourself
Adjust the period and watch the eclipse appear.
Shown at the true period. The raw light curve needed to re-fold at other periods has not been exported yet - this slider unlocks automatically once it is.
The period the pipeline measured. Drag the slider away from it and the eclipse smears out.
- True period
- 2.98222 d
- BLS period
- 2.98222 d
- Odd/even z
- 0.15
Caveats
Known limitations and things to check.
No caveats flagged: this candidate cleared every gate with no named exception. Follow-up observations would still be needed to confirm the stellar parameters.
VIIIInstrument
Raw values, fits and technical details.
Instrument
Raw values, fits and technical details.
Full statistics
- 2.98222 d
- 2.98222 dsame
- 2.99% +/- 0.10%seen 14/14
- ML screening score
- 0.547logistic_regression
- 1.30% +/- 0.03%phase 0.563, 44 sigma
- 0.15< 3
- 14.7072 dpower 0.02
- 2.9 h
- Distance (TIC, Gaia-based)
- 1161 pc
- 13.92 / 13.60
- - / -
- RA / Dec (J2000)
- 11h 55m 59.4s -60d 30m 43s
- 179.8 / 24.7
- 2,188 ptsover 54 d
Eclipse close-ups
Same flux scale on both panels. Line: binned median. Shown in place of an orbit animation - this pipeline measures eclipses, it does not fit an orbit.
Period alias analysis
Odd/even depth z = 0.15 (gate 3.0): alternate eclipses match, so the BLS period stands.
O - C timing
12 eclipses timed, rms 1.81 min, reduced chi-square 0.96 (10 dof): consistent with a constant period.
Each eclipse timed by fitting the star's own mean eclipse profile; fitted P = 2.982315 +/- 0.000040 d.