Ground-based Light Curve Follow-up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5254.01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission has used transit photometry to identify thousands of planet candidates; however, ground-based follow-up is required to rule out false positives and verify transits. In this paper, we aim to characterize and dissect the nature of TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5254.01 by using observational data obtained from the George Mason University 0.8m telescope. Through previous observations, we analyzed 215 science images and reduced them in a software program called AstroImageJ (AIJ). Later, we identified the target star and surrounding comparison stars in order to build our light curve. The final light curve did not show a clear and concise drop of brightness within the predicted ingress and egress times range. While the results of this dataset did not provide evidence of the transit’s existence, they also do not show the candidate as a false positive. Therefore, the outcomes of the study highlight the need for future testing through methods such as spectroscopy or high-contrast imaging.