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TRANSIT DETECTION AND LIGHT CURVE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED TESS TARGETS

Abstract

This project studies photometric data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to determine whether selected TESS Input Catalog (TIC) targets show flux variations consistent with exoplanet transits. Light-curve sectors were downloaded from MAST and analyzed using a Python package called LightKurve. The data were first processed by removing low-quality measurements, flattening long-term trends, and clipping outliers. The raw data, the detrended light curve, and the clipped version were plotted to confirm that a transit-like dip was present. A Box Least Squares (BLS) period search was used to identify potential periodic dips in brightness. Targets showing consistent dips were further examined in more detail. For these stars, each individual transit event was isolated, and an estimated mid-transit time (t₀) was calculated using the full width at half depth (FWHD) to find the center of the dip. All extracted transits were converted into binned curves to reduce noise and reveal the transit shape more clearly. Candidate periods and TIC IDs were also cross-checked against the KELT Follow-Up False-Positive Catalog to make sure the signals did not match known eclipsing binaries or other non-planetary sources. The next steps of this project include fitting a transit model to the binned curve to estimate the planet’s size, the orbital inclination, and the limb-darkening effects of the star.

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