Six TESS sectors sample every GJ 251 c transit train with events of at least 1.94 hours in the tested White NEID box
We test whether gaps in six public TESS sectors can hide every transit of GJ 251 c within fixed orbit bounds. We use 92,201 retained measurement times from Sectors 20, 45, 47, 60, 71, and 72. The main box has period 53.647 plus or minus 0.132 days and epoch 2458922.0 plus or minus 4.2 days, in BJD TDB. These bounds use three times the listed errors in the White NEID orbit of Beard et al. (2025). They are not a joint confidence region. We assume one fixed period, epoch, and transit length per train. Every train with transit length at least 1.94 hours contains a retained measurement midpoint. A separate count partition checks this claim over the full closed box. Trains of three-hour transits contain at least 30 midpoints. Boxes with one and two times the listed errors guarantee at least 85 and 75 midpoints. A limiting missed interval has length 1.93873505 hours. In a wider box with five times the errors, 2.66846 percent of the geometric area permits missed trains of three-hour transits. This area is not a posterior probability. We test observation times, not transit depths. We set no planet radius limit and claim no new planet or transit. The package contains six original light curves, archive records, source code, count certificates, figures, and independent checks.
GJ 251 c · TESS · transit coverage · ephemeris · observation window · radial velocity planets · reproducible astronomy
References
6- usesdoi:10.3847/1538-3881/ae0e20
We use the published GJ 251 c period and conjunction time from Table 4. We quantify an observation-time limit for the six sectors discussed in Section VII.1.
- usesdoi:10.17909/T9-NMC8-F686
The analysis uses six original SPOC TESS light curves from this MAST collection.
- The four-hour signal toward GJ 251 matches a known binary in six TESS sectors sci:sha256:c004389b041608905f93fa4b508b68159e7556e6a042f6205350ee765cfc2160
This prior work identifies the four-hour contaminating signal in the same six sectors. It does not test the transit coverage bounds studied here.
- The fixed 53.647-day GJ 251 term improves joint infrared prediction under three tested noise models sci:sha256:510340eb9c55963e67328665112620aa034b1189ca684f03008433dd660ff599
This prior work tests the published GJ 251 radial velocity periods. The present work addresses observation-time coverage in TESS.
- doi:10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/779
This prior work studies the effects of observing windows, transit duration, and noise on transit surveys.
- doi:10.1086/648564
This prior work studies transit-time windows and observing strategies for known radial velocity planets.
Cited by
3 publicationsPublic catalog entries on Sciscape.
- supportsTESS sectors 1-107 show no new transit of 659 RV planets in their RV-predicted windows; the same search finds 24 of 28 known transiting RV planets; the HD 44219 eclipses come from a neighbour star
Our search covers the RV-predicted windows of GJ 251 c and finds no transit (P_det = 0.898).
- usesSix TESS sectors reject assumed central 1.5 Earth radius transits of GJ 251 c on the White NEID grid under five fixed noise models
We use its six source FITS files, archive ledger, timing box, and limiting gap clock. We add flux tests.
- usesSeven TESS sectors support a constant 0.33085540-day period for the known binary near GJ 251
We reuse its six original light curve files and archive manifest, then check new public downloads against those hashes.