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Tau Ceti is a star commonly used by science fiction authors since it is similar to the Sun,
being of similar mass and similar spectral type as well as being relatively close to us.
However, Tau Ceti is a "metal-deficient" star and therefore extremely unlikely to have rocky planets around it.
It is also known as
52 Ceti,
HD 10700,
HR 509,
BD-16°295,
GCTP 365.00,
LHS 146,
GJ 71 and
HIP 8102.
In 2004 a team of UK astronomers led by Jane Greaves discovered that Tau Ceti has more than ten times the amount of cometary and asteroidal material orbiting it than the Sun does. This was determined by measuring the disc of cold dust orbiting the star produced by collisions between such small bodies. This result puts a damper on the possibility of complex life in this system, as planets there would suffer from large impact events roughly ten times more frequently than Earth.
Tau Ceti can be seen with the unaided eye as a faint star in the constellation of Cetus.
Facts
In fiction
Several science fiction novels are set on or around a habitable planet orbiting Tau Ceti, of which the following is a sample.
- In the film version of Barbarella the decadent planet Sogo is in the Tau Ceti system.
- In the Marathon game trilogy, Tau Ceti IV is the location of a human colony, about which the colony ship U.E.S.C. Marathon orbits.
- In the game System Shock 2, Tau Ceti V was where the starship Von Braun travelled on its maiden voyage. It also was the source of the invasion on the ship by both the AI SHODAN and the by SHODAN created lifeform Annelid.
See also
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