Fixed PRF fits favor a northwest source for the long TOI 6702.01 dip in 25 TESS sectors

TOI 6702.01 has a long periodic dip near the crowded star TIC 179442778. We test whether the dip remains in later public data and where its lost light comes from. We use 25 two-minute TESS sectors from July 2020 to January 2026, with 274 light curve events and 272 event images. A trapezoid fit gives a period of 2.18746246 days, a full width of 6.74 +/- 0.40 hours, and a depth of 788 +/- 66 parts per million. The errors use event clusters. Several baseline choices keep the dip long. A time and shape model from sectors through 69 gives a depth of 835 +/- 85 parts per million in seven later sectors. Fixed pixel response function (PRF) fits put the lost light 6.47 arcseconds west and 4.91 arcseconds north of the target. A fixed northwest source has a lower residual cost than the target, but the central 95% cost-difference range includes zero when both sectors and events are resampled. Two Gaia stars near the fitted position are only 1.13 arcseconds apart, and these data cannot distinguish them. Earlier SPOC results already show a broad trapezoid and a weak northwest offset. This study adds later data, controlled source tests, and a reproducible package. It does not identify a unique host or validate a planet. The package preserves native light curves, event pixel data, exact source records, figures, code, and reproduction instructions.

TESS · TOI 6702.01 · TIC 179442778 · transit candidates · difference imaging · pixel response function · source identification · Gaia DR3 · reproducible research