Difference between revisions of "Tau Ceti"

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Revision as of 21:01, 31 December 2009

Mountains of Solace near Ptichka's Landing

Tau Ceti is a main sequence, yellow-orange dwarf (G8 Vp) that may be as much as 10 billion years old. It has about 81 to 82 percent of Sol's mass, around 77 percent its diameter (Pijpers et al, 2003), but only 59 percent of its luminosity (Saumon et al, 1996, page 17). The star does not appear to be as enriched as Sol in elements heavier than hydrogen ("metals") because it has only 22 to 74 percent of Sol's abundance of iron (Cayrel de Strobel et al, 1991, page 6).

Dust has been detected around Tau Ceti, as has been found in the Solar System (Kuchner et al, 1998 -- in pdf). There also may be an optical companion star seen in telescopes that is not actually bound by gravity to Tau Ceti, and the star does not appear to have a dim stellar or substellar companion based on astrometric measurements (Lippincott and Worth, 1980) or radial velocity variations (Campbell et al, 1988). Some useful star catalogue numbers for Tau Ceti are: Tau Cet, 52 Cet, HR 509, Gl 71, Hip 8102, HD 10700, BD-16 295, SAO 147986, FK5 59, LHS 146, LTT 935, LPM 84, and LFT 159.

(boilerplate from SolStation.com)


Known Places Around Tau Ceti

  • Tau Ceti I
  • Tau Ceti II (Gallifrey) - First explored in 2009 by the Soviet Air Force.
  • Ceti Belt
  • Tau Ceti III
  • Tau Ceti IV
  • Tau Ceti V
  • Tau Ceti VI