Ground-Based Light Curve Follow Up Validation Observations on TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 6397.01

The TESS mission, also known as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is a NASA powered mission that looks for potential exoplanets using the transit method. The TESS mission has discovered 7,846 possible candidates, but only 543 have been confirmed as exoplanets by subsequent ground-based follow up (IPAC, 2025). This paper serves to confirm whether TOI-6397.01 is a transiting exoplanet and to rule out the existence of a false positive, or an NEB. A Nearby Eclipsing Binary (NEB) is a pair of stars located close to the target star on the sky that orbit each other and eclipse. If the NEB is within or near the aperture, its eclipses can mimic the dimming caused by a transiting exoplanet (Chaisson, 2025). The candidate exoplanet, TOI-6397.01, has a planet radius (R_Earth) of 17.3, a planet equilibrium temperature (K) of 1149, an orbital period of 1.67 days, and a planet transit duration depth of 2.758 days (IPAC). The 195 science images were then data reduced, plate solved and aligned using AstroImageJ. Data reduction involved using the AstroImageJ CCD Data Processor to perform dark subtraction and flat division to produce clearer images. Plate-solving was performed using Astrometry.net and AstroImageJ. We are unable to confirm the existence of an exoplanet due to an inconclusive NEB check. Future research and observations need to be done to conclude the existence of TOI-6397.01.