Tau Ceti - Revision history

Alastair: /* Fiction */ update from private

2020-03-19T22:38:21Z

Fiction: update from private

Alastair: add category Stars_with_Planets

2018-05-27T20:51:20Z

add category Stars_with_Planets

Alastair: /* Fact */ Updated. It does seem to have planets.

2017-12-28T04:00:14Z

Fact: Updated. It does seem to have planets.

Alastair: /* Fiction */ Add notes on Tau Ceti III and gravity, etc.

2017-10-15T17:52:23Z

Fiction: Add notes on Tau Ceti III and gravity, etc.

Alastair: /* Planets */ fiction note

2017-10-15T17:51:11Z

Planets: fiction note

Alastair: /* Tau Ceti */ add known planets

2017-10-15T17:50:09Z

Tau Ceti: add known planets

Alastair: Created

2016-10-27T04:04:26Z

Created

New page

== Tau Ceti ==
=== Fact ===
Tau Ceti is a Sun-like (G type) star about 11.9 light years from here; it's the closest single such star to us (the [[Alpha Centauri]] system is closer and has a sun-like star, but is a multiple). As such it's been a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti_in_fiction popular place] in science fiction, authors from Asimov to Zsoldos have set novels or parts of novels there.

It's a much older star than its near neighbor, [[Epsilon Eridani]] (about 5.5 ly away from τ Ceti), and unlike that star we don't yet know if it has planets, but we do know that it has a dust/asteroid disk, bigger than ours but smaller than [[Epsilon Eridani|ε Eridani's]]. This probably means that any planets in the system get bombarded more frequently by meteors or comets, although that may also depend on the presence and position of large planets which may help shepherd the debris into more confined belts. The star itself is a bit smaller, cooler and dimmer than our own Sun, which moves the habitable zone in closer, but it is still quite a bit brighter and warmer than K-type stars like ε Eridani or [[Alpha Centauri|α Centauri B]].
=== Fiction ===
So far in T-Space I haven't written much about Tau Ceti. In ''The Chara Talisman'' (aka ''The Venaticorum Archive''), a world circling it is the location of Port Skead, the main spaceport in the system and home base for [[Jackie Roberts]] and her ship ''[[Sophie]]''. It's a bit over 13.5 light years from α Centauri, so it takes about ten days in warp to get there from [[Sawyers World]] or [[Kakuloa]]. Once there, it's only a four day trip to ε Eridani.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:51, 27 May 2018
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 Tau Ceti is a Sun-like (G type) star about 11.9 light years from here; it's the closest single such star to us (the [[Alpha Centauri]] system is closer and has a sun-like star, but is a multiple).   As such it's been a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti_in_fiction popular place] in science fiction, authors from Asimov to Zsoldos have set novels or parts of novels there.
-It's a much older star than its near neighbor, [[Epsilon Eridani]] (about 5.5 ly away from τ Ceti), and unlike that star we don't yet know if it has planets, but we do know that it has a dust/asteroid disk, bigger than ours but smaller than [[Epsilon Eridani|ε Eridani's]].  This probably means that any planets in the system get bombarded more frequently by meteors or comets, although that may also depend on the presence and position of large planets which may help shepherd the debris into more confined belts.  The star itself is a bit smaller, cooler and dimmer than our own Sun, which moves the habitable zone in closer, but it is still quite a bit brighter and warmer than K-type stars like ε Eridani or [[Alpha Centauri|α Centauri B]].
+It's a much older star than its near neighbor, [[Epsilon Eridani]] (about 5.5 ly away from τ Ceti), and like that star we believe it has planets, as well as a dust/asteroid disk, bigger than ours but smaller than [[Epsilon Eridani|ε Eridani's]].  This disk seems to be towards the outer part of the system, whereas the so-far discovered planets are fairly close in. The star itself is a bit smaller, cooler and dimmer than our own Sun, which moves the habitable zone in closer, but it is still quite a bit brighter and warmer than K-type stars like ε Eridani or [[Alpha Centauri|α Centauri B]].
 === Planets ===
 Note: Earlier reports suggested five planets, b through f.  More recently (August, 2017) this has been refined to just four, with b, c and d being superceded by g and h.  Tau Ceti is also believed to have approximately 10x the mass of asteroids and dust as our own solar system.

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 |}
-(Note: III is assumed to be binary (or with a very large moon) with a total mass of ~3.4 M⊕)
+(Note: For fiction, III is assumed to be binary (or with a very large moon) with a total mass of ~3.4 M⊕)
 === Fiction ===

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 Update: Assume III-1 (Skead) mass 3.1 Me, III-2 mass 0.3 Me, III-1 is the terraformed one, III-2 is vaguely terraform? would it tidal lock in 65 my?  Surface gravs ~1.46 and ~0.57 respectively.  Skead is heavy but do-able (take-off barely possible with chemical, okay with plasma).
 == Notes ==
 {{reflist|2}}