Published ephemeris pairs reduce measured sector mean timing offsets below one minute in three TESS hot Jupiters

We tested the three largest normalized timing offsets in an earlier SCI audit. We fit 68 transits in 12 public TESS light curves from 2018 to 2026. We measured HAT-P-16 b, KELT-18 b, and WASP-20 b. Latest sector mean offsets from saved archive composite pairs were -13.88, -76.01, and -12.76 minutes. Published time and period pairs reduced them to -0.37, +0.88, and +0.95 minutes. Two composite rows mixed reference times from fixed-period fits with newer periods. The mixed pairs add constant prediction shifts of 13.51 and 13.71 minutes. The third row used an older period that differed by 4.59 seconds per orbit. Earlier sectors predicted each latest sector within 0.38 minute. The new contribution is a source audit, 68 transit times, and prediction tests with the latest sectors withheld. The sample covers three selected planets. It does not exclude smaller physical timing changes. The package includes original data, code, provenance, error checks, and figures.

TESS · transit timing · ephemeris · NASA Exoplanet Archive · HAT-P-16 b · KELT-18 b · WASP-20 b · catalog validation · reproducible research