New Transit Timing Observations of WASP-12b from TESS Sectors 71 and 72

Abstract

Abstract I present new transit and occultation timing measurements for the hot Jupiter WASP-12b using data from TESS Sectors 71 and 72, observed in 2023. Using full-phase curve fitting for the first time, I precisely locate both transits and occultations. I report 34 new transit times and sector-specific occultation times, updating the orbital decay rate to −26.310 ± 0.901 ms yr−1. My analysis strongly favors the orbital decay model over constant period and apsidal precession models.