Passband for TESS data

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sun, 06/23/2024 - 15:07

Hi All.

My question is: which passband should be used when proposing a new star with data from TESS?

Thanj you

Franco

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
TESS passband

Hi Franco,

I think you are talking about VSX submissions. In VSX we use "TESS" as the passband to quote TESS observations, since it is not a standard passband. You have to write it down in the custom passband field.
Roughly speaking, TESS magnitudes are close to the Ic magnitudes, but this is a much wider passband.

The preferred option for VSX is adding a mean V magnitude from a catalog (e.g. derived from Gaia DR3) as the maximum magnitude, and then quoting the TESS amplitude in the minimum magnitude field, with the "Minimum is an amplitude" box checked.

When the variability has an amplitude large enough to be detected by other surveys like ASAS-SN, ASAS-3, Hipparcos, ZTF, etc. you can combine TESS data with theirs and adopt their standard magnitudes in your submission.

Cheers,
Sebastian