Multiply eclipsing candidates from the TESS satellite

Abstract

We present a catalogue of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) targets that show multiple eclipses. In all of these stars, we detected two sets of eclipses, for which their two distinctive periods can be derived. These multiple stellar systems could either be doubly eclipsing quadruples or triple-star coplanar systems showing eclipses on the outer orbit in addition to the inner eclipses. In total, 116 systems were found to be doubly eclipsing, while 25 stars were identified as triply eclipsing triples. Several confirmed blends of two close sources were not included in our analysis. All these systems were identified by scanning the known eclipsing systems taken from the Variable Star Index database and checking their TESS light curves. The average period of the dominant pair, pair A, is 2.7 days in our sample, while for the second pair, pair B, the average period is 5.3 days. Several systems show evident eclipse timing variation (ETV) changes even from the short interval of the TESS data, indicating possible period changes and short mutual orbit. We also present evidence that the system V0871 Cen is probably a septuple-star system of architecture (Aa-Ab)-B-C-D. Most of the presented systems are adequately bright and show deep enough eclipses for observing, and therefore we call for new ground-based observations for these extremely interesting multiples. Owing to this motivation, we have included also the ephemerides for both pairs of each system, our catalogue also contains their depths of eclipses and the light-curve shapes as extracted from the TESS data. These new ground-based observations would be very useful for further derivation of the mutual movement of both pairs on their orbit via detection of the ETVs of both pairs for example.