We present optical and infrared photometry of the low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748–676 in quiescence for the first time in 24 years since it became X-ray active in 1985 .
We find the counterpart at average magnitudes of R = 22.4 and J = 21.3 .
We monitored the source approximately nightly through 2008 November to 2009 January .
During this time there was considerable night-to-night optical variability but no long term trends were apparent .
The night-to-night variability reveals a periodicity of P = 0.159331 \pm 0.000012 d , consistent with the X-ray orbital period to within 0.01 % .
This indicates that the quiescent optical modulation is indeed orbital in nature rather than a superhump .
Interestingly , the modulation remains single-peaked with a deep minimum coincident with the times of X-ray eclipse , and there is no indication of a double-peaked ellipsoidal modulation .
This indicates that even in ‘ quiescence ’ emission from the accretion disk and/or X-ray heated inner face of the companion star dominate the optical emission , and implies that obtaining an accurate dynamical mass estimate in quiescence will be challenging .