Eclipsing Binary Patrol

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope monitoring the brightness of millions of stars spread across the sky. Many of these are binary stars -- systems of two stars orbiting each other. Binary stars are not rare, and in fact make up a large fraction of the stellar population of the Milky Way.

From our perspective, some of the binary stars observed by TESS will align in such a way that the two stars periodically block each other's light. These events are called eclipses, and induce a decrease in the brightness of the system.

These eclipsing binary stars are vital for calibrating the theoretical models of stellar formation and evolution, which underpin our understanding of nearly every topic in astronomy. Studying eclipsing binaries is one of the handful of options to directly measure the vital characteristics of stars, such as their sizes, masses, temperatures, and luminosities. As such, these fascinating stellar systems represent one of the pillars upon which our understanding of stellar astrophysics is build upon.

TESS is ideally suited to find a large number of eclipsing binaries, and indeed hundreds of thousands of potential candidates have already been detected by automated methods. At times, however, these methods may be misled by glitches in the data. This can result in a misinterpretation of the detected signal, confusion about its origin, or an incorrect measurement of the orbital period for the eclipsing binary candidate. Worst case scenario, we may even confuse a single star for a binary system!

At Eclipsing Binary Patrol, you will help us check the TESS data, one target at a time. Together, we will confirm that a particular candidate is indeed an eclipsing binary, ensure the orbital period is correct, and verify that the target star is the source of the detected eclipses.