Lessons from the apparent peculiar nature of the star TYC 6544-3483-1

Abstract

We report a radio and optical study of the star TYC 6544-3483-1 originally selected as a follow-up target in the course of our efforts to cross-identify Galactic high-energy sources. The star by itself finally turned out to be a very ordinary main-sequence star despite the initial expectations that apparently pointed to the contrary. We found that its, at first glance, exotic properties arise as a combined consequence of the limited angular resolution of the radio and optical databases being used. Our preliminary astrophysical interpretation was strongly hampered by the presence of unexpected optical variables inside both the photometric and background apertures. While such an ill-posed situation is not a frequent one, we believe that our experience is worth sharing with the community to raise a word of caution and help to avoid similar misleading results, especially when dealing with modern TESS data.