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Tau Ceti (τ Cet / τ Ceti) is a star commonly mentioned by science fiction authors since it is similar to the Sun in mass and spectral type in addition to being relatively close to us. However, Tau Ceti is a "metal-deficient" star and therefore is thought to be less likely to have rocky planets around it. No companions have yet been detected through astrometric or radial velocity measurements. Tau Ceti once had the now obsolete name of Durre Menthor, derived from the Arabic درر منثور Al Durr' al-Manthur , meaning "Scattered Pearls". Tau Ceti can be seen with the unaided eye as a faint third-magnitude star in the constellation of Cetus.
Debris disc around Tau Ceti 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 our 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. However, it is possible that a large Jupiter-sized gas giant could deflect comets and asteroids. Additionally, this new evidence does increase the likelyhood that one or more rocky planets orbit the star. See also | ||||||||
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