Tau Ceti is a single star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun’s mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively nearby star and the closest solitary G-class star. Since December 2012, there has been evidence of at least four planets—all confirmed being super-Earths—orbiting Tau Cet i. Two of these are potentially in the habitable zone. There are an additional four unconfirmed planets, one of which is a Jovian planet between 3 and 20 AU from the star.
About Tau Ceti in brief
Tau Ceti is a single star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun’s mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively nearby star and the closest solitary G-class star. The star appears stable, with little stellar variation, and is metal-deficient. Since December 2012, there has been evidence of at least four planets—all confirmed being super-Earths—orbiting Tau Cet i. Two of these are potentially in the habitable zone. There are an additional four unconfirmed planets, one of which is a Jovian planet between 3 and 20 AU from the star. It has been listed as a target for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and appears in some science fiction literature. It can be seen with the unaided eye with an apparent magnitude of 3.5. As seen from Tau Cetsi, the Sun would be in the northern hemisphere constellation Boötes with a magnitude of about 2. 6. It will require about 2000 years before the location of this star shifts by more than a degree. The name ‘TauCeti’ is the Bayer designation for this star, established in 1603 as part of German celestial cartographer Johann Bayer’s Uranometria star catalogue. It is one of the closest star systems to the sun and the next-closest spectral class-G star after Alpha Centauri A.
The proper motion of a star is its rate of movement across the celestial sphere, determined by comparing its position relative to more distant background objects. Nearby stars can traverse an angle of arc across the sky more rapidly than the distant background stars and are good candidates for parallax studies. The space velocity of the star is 37 kms through space. This result can then be used to compute an orbital path of Tau C Teti through the Milky Way. This can be done by calculating the eccentricity and eccentricity of the Tau CETi orbital path, and an orbital distance of 9 kilopoar centred on the Sun. In Chinese astronomy, the Chinese name for the star itself is ‘the Fifth Star of Square Celestial Granary’ The star will make its closest approach to theSun in about 43,000 years, when it comes to within 10,000 years, of 10 kly. The distance to thesun is 37,000 kilometres (19,000 miles) The star has a mean-centric distance of 0.7 kilometres (7,500 miles) and an eccentricity of 0.8 kilometer (1,500 metres) It is considered to be a high-proper-motion star, but it only has an annual traverse of just over 2 arc seconds. The radial velocity of astar is the component of its motion that is toward or away from the Sun and can be determined by measuring its spectrum.
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This page is based on the article Tau Ceti published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 22, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
