Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 3653.01

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) aims to discover new exoplanet candidates using the transit method. One such candidate, TOI-3653.01, had an observed periodic dip in stellar brightness, potentially indicating a transiting exoplanet. To investigate the possibility of false positives, such as a nearby eclipsing binary (NEB), a follow-up observation was conducted using data from the telescope at George Mason University’s Observatory. From this data, a light curve was produced using multi-aperture photometry. The status of TOI-3653.01 as an exoplanet candidate can be evaluated by matching the predicted transit window from TESS with a dip in brightness on the light curve. This follow-up study contributes ground-based photometric evidence that supports the classification of TOI-3653.01 as an exoplanet candidate, although deeper observations are still required to rule out false positives.