TIC 295741342: A Triply-Eclipsing Triple Star System with a Giant Tertiary
Brian P. Powell, Guillermo Torres, Veselin B. Kostov, Saul A. Rappaport, Tam\'as Borkovits, Robert Gagliano, David W. Latham

TL;DR
This paper reports the discovery and detailed analysis of TIC 295741342, a triply-eclipsing triple star system with a giant tertiary, using TESS data and spectro-photodynamical modeling to understand its structure and evolution.
Contribution
The study provides the first comprehensive characterization of a triply-eclipsing triple system with a giant tertiary, including detailed modeling and evolutionary predictions.
Findings
System is near-coplanar with two degenerate solutions for the giant's evolutionary stage.
The system's next outer eclipse is predicted for September 1, 2026.
The tertiary will overflow its Roche lobe, leading to mass transfer or merger events.
Abstract
We present the discovery and characterization of TIC 295741342, a triply-eclipsing triple star system with a giant tertiary. The eclipsing binary consists of two similar main-sequence stars in a 4.75-day orbit. The binary is in a 412.8-day orbit with the giant tertiary. We found two degenerate solutions for the system: one where the tertiary is ascending the Red Giant Branch (RGB), and the other where the tertiary is on the Horizontal Branch (HB) and will eventually ascend the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB). In both solutions, the system is near-perfectly coplanar. In TESS Sector 33, the binary passes behind the giant tertiary, producing a distinctive "head-and-shoulders" eclipse that directly constrains the relative flux contributions and radii of all three stars. We modeled the system using a comprehensive spectro-photodynamical model that simultaneously fits the TESS lightcurve,…
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