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I was going through some analysis of the TESS light-curve data and I stumbled upon an interesting example (see below figures, where the blue line is simply a moving average), where the light-curve displays a double-dipping phenomena. Unfortunately, there is only one "transit" for this light-curve. I checked the data for the TIC number of the stars and it's reported to be ~0.6 solar mass, with no known exoplanet.

I have encountered this pattern a couple of other times (out of roughly 30k stars).

Anyone has encountered this before and could have some explanation as to what this may be?

detrended lightcurve from TESS data

zoomed in on the dip

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    $\begingroup$ one observation is no observation but motivation to keep looking. Could be a double planet if it re-occurs. With ~2% and 1% drop in brightness it would likely be gas or ice giants - and if they are in orbits similar to the solar system, it needs patience, much patience to detect it again, possibly decades later. $\endgroup$
    – planetmaker
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 0:06
  • $\begingroup$ That could make sense indeed. And what about the increase in brightness in between the two dips? Would it be the reflection off the first "object" after it passed by? $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 0:21
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    $\begingroup$ I see no significant rise above noise level $\endgroup$
    – planetmaker
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 1:54
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    $\begingroup$ Could also be an unresolved stellar/ brown dwarf-star binary with a high eccentricity, that would explain why the dips are so close together with big spaces in between $\endgroup$
    – Justin T
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 3:54
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    $\begingroup$ Two things of note here - 1.) the dip is 3%, that indicates (depending on the host star) a rather large transiting object ($\sim 0.2$ solar radii, or $2$Jovian radii if the host were G2). Could be a grazing, inflated Hot Jupiter, could be a small star - the V-shape of the transit reminds of typical binary light curves. As for the second dip - you'd need to see whether it repeats. $\endgroup$
    – AtmosphericPrisonEscape
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 13:13

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