Ground-Based Light Curve Follow-Up Validation Observations of TESS Object of Interest TOI 5868.01

We present ground-based follow-up photometry of the TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 5868.01, a short-period sub-Jovian exoplanet candidate. TOI 5868.01 was originally identified in TESS data as exhibiting a periodic dimming consistent with a transit of ∼3.6 mmag depth and a 2.68-day orbital period. On UT 2024 June 24, we observed a predicted transit event with the George Mason University 0.8m telescope, obtaining 280 science frames in the red filter. After standard calibration and reduction in AstroImageJ, 236 high-quality frames were used to extract a differential light curve with 13 comparison stars. The light curve shows a shallow dimming aligned with the TESS ephemeris, with a residual root-mean-square (RMS) of 1.94 ppt and reduced χ2 per degree of freedom of 1.69. A nearby eclipsing binary (NEB) analysis indicates that no contaminating background stars within 2.5′ are capable of producing the observed signal. These results support the existence of exoplanet TOI 5868.01 and demonstrate the value of ground-based follow-up for confirming on-target signals. While TOI 5868.01 itself is unlikely to be habitable, refining the methods of detection and validation for planets of this type is essential for the broader effort to identify smaller, potentially Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of their host stars.