Solaris photometric survey: Search for circumbinary companions using eclipse timing variations

Eclipse timing variations (ETVs) have been a successful tool for detecting circumbinary companions to eclipsing binaries (EBs). While TESS and Kepler have been prolific for ETV searches, they sometimes can be limited by time and sky coverage, a limitation that can be addressed by specialized ground-based ETV surveys. We present the initial results from the Solaris photometric survey, which uses four 0.5-m robotic telescopes in the Southern hemisphere to look for circumbinary companions. We present the method of light-curve extraction, detrending, and EB modelling using observations from the Solaris network. Using these light curves, we extract precise eclipse timings for seven EBs and look for companions using a Lomb-Scargle periodogram search. We find two possible periodic signals for the target GSC 08814-01026. With the system having strong activity, we check for the feasibility of orbital solutions at these two periods. We find that the 245 ± 1 d period is due to an M dwarf-mass companion. This makes GSC 08814-01026 a candidate compact hierarchical triple system. The other periodic signal at 146 ± 1 d is an artefact of stellar activity.