Star Vetter

TIC 411434067

An uncatalogued eclipsing-binary candidate from TESS.

Period aliasSurvivorP = 2.70721 d

Eclipsing-binary candidate: 2.7072-day period (twice the BLS period), a 4.86% primary eclipse, a 4.19% secondary eclipse at phase 0.502. Automated cross-checks question this period - see below.

Primary eclipsetotal light 0.956
Surface brightness ratio
0.86
Companion / star radius
~0.23
Face hidden at primary eclipse
~5%
Separation
~8.8 x the star's radius
Eccentricity
consistent with circular
Secondary eclipse phase
0.502 measured, 0.500 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 9,746x 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 06:01 UTC
  • Primary2026-10-21 14:21 UTC
  • Secondary2026-10-22 22:59 UTC

Computed from the fitted ephemeris. Approximate - not corrected for your location or for light-travel time across Earth's orbit.

I

The signal

A repeating, consistent dip in brightness.

observed binned median residuals
0.920.940.960.981.001.020-0.4-0.20.00.20.4phase (P = 2.7072 d)relative flux

Residual scatter 0.983% (observed minus binned median).

!

Automated cross-checks question this period - see Caveats below.

Period
2.70721 d
Primary depth
4.86%
Secondary depth
4.19%
Epoch (T0)
2827.183 BTJD
Duration
2.88 h
II

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
III

The pixel check

Confirms the dimming is on the target star, not a nearby source.

Out of eclipse
In eclipse
Difference (out - in)
+ target TIC 411434067x neighbour bright enough to cause the dipo other TIC starsO dimming centroid1 pixel = 21"

Out/in share one sqrt colour scale; in-eclipse = out-of-eclipse minus difference. TESS sector 56.

33.7
0.19 px4"
-0.0025 phase
TIC 4114298191.21 px, dT 1.2
0.79
56

The dimming is centred on the target star. No nearby contaminant detected.

Centroid offset
0.19 px
Difference SNR
33.7
Capable neighbour
TIC 411429819
TESS sector
56
IV

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.

0.00.51.01.52.02.53.03.5-2024681012Gaia colour BP-RP (bluer to redder)Absolute G (brighter is up)Sun
Every survivor Gaia can place, by colour and true brightness; the Sun is marked for scale. Amber rings mark RUWE above 1.4. No stellar model is drawn - only the measurements.

Its colour is close to the Sun's.

Not plotted on the diagram: its distance is not measured well enough to place it.

Gaia note: parallax SNR too low (0.8) - noisy astrometric solution, distance unreliable

Source: ESA Gaia DR3, source 2834185769727553152.

!

Gaia's position measurements fit this source poorly (RUWE 10.51, above the usual 1.4). That often means more than one star is there - most likely a wider third star or an unresolved neighbour, since a tight eclipsing pair barely moves Gaia's image. Context, not confirmation.

Distance
not reliable
Apparent G
13.53
Colour BP-RP
0.72
RUWE
10.51
Match offset
0.06 arcsec
V

The ground-survey check

An independent instrument, different years: does real ZTF photometry show the eclipse at the period TESS measured?

  • ZTF g (1309 pts, 83 outliers)Not significant (p=0.03)
  • ZTF i (316 pts, 19 outliers)Not significant (p=0.13)
  • ZTF r (1570 pts, 123 outliers)Not significant (p=0.09)

Folded at the TESS-measured period of 1.35360 d, no band shows a phase cluster tight enough to rule out chance. Ground-survey cadence is sparse - a handful of epochs per orbit - so this is the expected outcome for most real eclipses, not evidence against this one.

Source: ZTF public light-curve archive (IRSA), independent of the TESS data used to detect this candidate.

VI

Fold it yourself

Adjust the period and watch the eclipse appear.

0.920.940.960.981.001.02-0.4-0.20.00.20.4phaserelative flux
2.70721

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
2.70721 d
BLS period
1.35360 d
Odd/even z
9.80
VII

Caveats

Known limitations and things to check.

Cross-check:No eclipse at 2 of 19 covered epochs where the 2.70721 d period predicts one (each under half the typical depth, > 5 sigma below it). The period is probably wrong - the dips seen may be separate eclipses of a longer-period system.

  • Period alias:Odd/even eclipse-depth z-score is 9.80 (gate > 3.0): alternating eclipses differ significantly in depth, the signature of a true period double what BLS found. Pixel-check confirmation and eclipse timing are unaffected - report the corrected period, 2.707209 d, in any write-up.
VIII

Instrument

Raw values, fits and technical details.

Show raw data

Full statistics

2.70721 d
1.35360 dalias
4.86% +/- 0.38%seen 19/19
ML screening score
0.377logistic_regression
4.19% +/- 0.04%phase 0.502, 109 sigma
9.80> 3: alias
0.4515 dpower 0.10
2.9 h
Distance (TIC, Gaia-based)
712 pc
13.29 / 12.91
- / -
RA / Dec (J2000)
22h 33m 18.0s +19d 10m 54s
192.9 / 33.7
22,258 ptsover 759 d

Eclipse close-ups

Primary eclipse4.86%
0.920.940.960.981.001.02-505hours from mid-eclipse
Secondary (phase 0.502)4.19%
0.920.940.960.981.001.02-505hours from mid-eclipse

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

BLS period 1.3536 d
0.920.940.960.981.001.02-0.50.00.5
2x BLS 2.7072 d
0.940.960.981.001.02-0.50.00.5

Odd/even depth z = 9.80 (gate 3.0): alternate eclipses differ, so the true period is 2 x 1.3536 = 2.7072 d.

O - C timing

primary eclipses
-30-20-100102030050100150200250Eclipse number (cycle)O - C (min)

19 eclipses timed, rms 10.75 min, reduced chi-square 37.52 (17 dof): more scatter than the timing errors explain - worth a closer look.

Each eclipse timed by fitting the star's own mean eclipse profile; fitted P = 2.707233 +/- 0.000001 d.

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