TIC 942471837
An uncatalogued eclipsing-binary candidate from TESS.
Eclipsing-binary candidate: 7.1452-day period, a 5.74% primary eclipse, no significant secondary eclipse.
TIC 942471837 is a candidate eclipsing binary star with an orbital period of 7.1452 days, detected through automated analysis of TESS photometry. The primary eclipse produces a 5.14% dimming, while no secondary eclipse was detected. The eclipse signal shows high statistical significance with a BLS signal-to-noise ratio of 209.2, and pixel-level analysis yields a difference-imaging peak signal-to-noise of 17.2. However, a critical uncertainty affects this candidate: the dimming centroid lies only 0.002 pixels closer to the target star than to a nearby bright neighbor, falling within the instrument's stated centroid systematic uncertainty of 0.10-0.3 pixels. This means TESS's resolution cannot confidently distinguish whether the eclipses originate from the target star or its neighbor. The candidate does not appear in six major variable-star catalogs, and the machine-learning screening score is 0.56 on a 0-to-
- Surface brightness ratio
- companion faint - no secondary eclipse
- Companion / star radius
- ~0.24
- Face hidden at primary eclipse
- ~6%
- Separation
- ~34 x the star's radius
- Eccentricity
- consistent with circular
Zoomed: both stars drawn about 7x 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 25,723x 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.
- Primary2026-10-19 20:07 UTC
- Secondary2026-10-23 09:51 UTC
- Primary2026-10-26 23:36 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 2.295% (observed minus binned median).
Clear, repeating eclipses with a consistent period and depth.
- Period
- 7.14516 d
- Primary depth
- 5.74%
- Epoch (T0)
- 1546.727 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 9.
- 17.2
- 0.38 px8"
- 0.0000 phase
- TIC 233824130.38 px, dT -0.6
- 0.72
- 9
The dimming centroid sits almost as close to a bright neighbour as to the target.
- Centroid offset
- 0.38 px
- Difference SNR
- 17.2
- Capable neighbour
- TIC 23382413
- TESS sector
- 9
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.
The latest Gaia context file does not include this candidate yet, so there is no Gaia view to show.
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 -32.3 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
- 7.14516 d
- BLS period
- 7.14516 d
- Odd/even z
- 0.51
Caveats
Known limitations and things to check.
- Thin margin:The ON_TARGET call rests on a neighbour-competition margin of just 0.002 px (dimming centroid 0.376 px from target vs 0.378 px from the nearest bright-enough neighbour) - inside diag_pixel.py's own stated centroid systematic of 0.10-0.3 px. TESS's resolution cannot confidently separate this star from that neighbour.
VIIIInstrument
Raw values, fits and technical details.
Instrument
Raw values, fits and technical details.
Full statistics
- 7.14516 d
- 7.14516 dsame
- 5.74% +/- 0.04%seen 3/3
- ML screening score
- 0.563logistic_regression
- < 0.87%none at 5 sigma
- 0.51< 3
- 0.2045 dpower 0.01
- 2.0 h
- Distance (TIC, Gaia-based)
- 770 pc+/- 20
- 13.47 / 13.04
- - / -
- RA / Dec (J2000)
- 11h 11m 41.4s -32d 18m 45s
- 209.2 / 17.2
- 1,101 ptsover 25 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 = 0.51 (gate 3.0): alternate eclipses match, so the BLS period stands.