TIC 65970288
An uncatalogued eclipsing-binary candidate from TESS.
Eclipsing-binary candidate: 1.3705-day period, a 1.22% primary eclipse, no significant secondary eclipse.
TIC 65970288 is a candidate eclipsing binary star with an orbital period of 1.3705 days. TESS photometry shows a primary eclipse with a depth of 1.17 percent dimming, detected at high significance with a BLS signal-to-noise ratio of 52.8. Pixel-level analysis using difference imaging confirms a peak signal-to-noise of 11.8, though the centroid offset measures 1.2 arcsec from the target position. No secondary eclipse was detected in the data. This candidate does not appear in six major variable-star catalogs, suggesting it may represent a novel target. The pipeline's machine-learning model assigned it a screening score of 0.37, and the photometric data passed all quality checks without flags.
- Surface brightness ratio
- companion faint - no secondary eclipse
- Companion / star radius
- ~0.11
- Face hidden at primary eclipse
- ~1%
- Separation
- ~5.8 x the star's radius
- Eccentricity
- consistent with circular
Zoomed: both stars drawn about 1x 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 4,934x 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.
- Secondary2026-10-19 20:15 UTC
- Primary2026-10-20 12:42 UTC
- Secondary2026-10-21 05:08 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 1.140% (observed minus binned median).
Clear, repeating eclipses with a consistent period and depth.
- Period
- 1.37053 d
- Primary depth
- 1.22%
- Epoch (T0)
- 1492.912 BTJD
- Duration
- 2.02 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 7.
- 11.8
- 0.06 px1"
- 0.0050 phase
- TIC 659703070.91 px, dT 3.3
- 1.00
- 7
The dimming is centred on the target star. No nearby contaminant detected.
- Centroid offset
- 0.06 px
- Difference SNR
- 11.8
- Capable neighbour
- TIC 65970307
- TESS sector
- 7
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 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 (0.0) - noisy astrometric solution, distance unreliable
Source: ESA Gaia DR3, source 5609956784490240512.
Gaia's position measurements fit this source poorly (RUWE 18.67, 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
- 14.01
- Colour BP-RP
- 0.69
- RUWE
- 18.67
- Match offset
- 0.19 arcsec
The ground-survey check
An independent instrument, different years: does real ZTF photometry show the eclipse at the period TESS measured?
- ZTF g (164 pts, 0 outliers)Too few outliers to test
- ZTF r (807 pts, 1 outlier)Too few outliers to test
Folded at the TESS-measured period of 1.37053 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.
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
- 1.37053 d
- BLS period
- 1.37053 d
- Odd/even z
- 0.18
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
- 1.37053 d
- 1.37053 dsame
- 1.22% +/- 0.04%seen 12/13
- ML screening score
- 0.373logistic_regression
- < 0.30%none at 5 sigma
- 0.18< 3
- 1.3952 dpower 0.04
- 2.0 h
- Distance (TIC, Gaia-based)
- 1417 pc
- 13.88 / 13.51
- - / -
- RA / Dec (J2000)
- 07h 15m 14.4s -27d 37m 5s
- 52.8 / 11.8
- 1,072 ptsover 24 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 = 0.18 (gate 3.0): alternate eclipses match, so the BLS period stands.