Tau Ceti is a single Sun-like star in Cetus, visible to the naked eye, long a favourite of the search for life and surrounded by a thick disc of debris.
At a glance
| type | yellow star (class G) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 11.9 light-years (3.65 pc) |
| its light left it | 11.9 years ago |
| luminosity | 0.52 × the Sun |
| radius | 0.79 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 5,340 K |
| constellation | Cetus (Sea Monster) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a yellow star a little smaller and cooler than the Sun, and on its own, with no companion star. That makes it one of the most Sun-like stars near us, though it holds fewer heavy elements than the Sun and is thought to be older. It is visible to the naked eye in Cetus, the Sea Monster.
Its similarity to the Sun made it, with Epsilon Eridani, one of the first two targets of Project Ozma, Frank Drake’s early search for radio signals from other civilisations. Infrared observations show it is surrounded by a disc of dust much heavier than the Solar System’s Kuiper belt, which suggests comets and asteroids crowd its outer regions.
What you see in the piece
Fly to it and you find a yellow disc, very nearly the colour of the Sun, with the small planets catalogued around it on their orbits. In HUMAN EYE it is a faint star in Cetus.
Measured or modelled
Its small planets were found from very faint wobbles in its light, close to the limit of the instruments; they are listed in planet catalogues, but further data could revise them.
Questions
Is Tau Ceti like the Sun?
Close to it: a yellow star (class G) with a radius of 0.79 × the Sun and a luminosity of 0.52 × the Sun, 11.9 light-years (3.65 pc) away.
Does Tau Ceti have planets?
Several small planets have been reported from very faint wobbles in its light and are listed in planet catalogues, though the signals are close to the limit of detection.