TESS pixel fits place Boyajian's 2019 dip near its unresolved stellar pair

We test the source of the known 2019 Sector 15 dip of Boyajian's star with public two-minute TESS pixels. A fixed event template, time baseline, and measured motion terms give a lost-light image. We fit official pixel response functions to this image and compare the position with Gaia DR3 sources. The nominal position is 0.31 arcseconds from the primary star. All 144 time and fit-window tests and 60 response-model tests place it within 2.04 arcseconds of the primary. These model ranges are not confidence limits. A field star 25.34 arcseconds away gives a poor spatial fit. Signals placed at that star in eight real control windows are recovered within 1.56 arcseconds. Thus this field star does not match the dip under the tested point-source models. Residual resampling gives smaller conditional scatter than several model and registration tests. The data support an origin near the unresolved stellar pair but do not give a calibrated exclusion of the bound companion at 1.95 arcseconds. We do not claim a new event, a planet, or a physical cause. The package preserves full public input files, source hashes, code, figures, control tests, and reproduction instructions.

Boyajian's star · KIC 8462852 · TIC 185336364 · TESS · difference image · pixel response function · source localization · Gaia DR3 · transit vetting