Tau Ceti in Fiction

Tau Ceti In Fiction

The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in much science fiction. Tau Ceti is the second closest star to the Sun (after Alpha Centauri A) having spectral class G, making it a popular story setting or system of origin in science fiction tales. The Sun, itself of spectral class G, provides an obvious model for the possibility that the star might harbor worlds capable of supporting life. But Tau Ceti, weighing in at ~0.78, is metal-poor and so is thought to be unlikely to host rocky planets (see Destination: Void by Frank Herbert below); on the other hand, observations have detected more than ten times as much dust around the star than exists in the Solar System, a condition tending to enhance the probability of such bodies. Since the star's luminosity is barely 55% that of the Sun, those planets would need to circle it at the orbital radius of Venus in order to match the insolation received by the Earth. (See Time for the Stars by Robert Heinlein below.)

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. The name Cetus is also Greek (Κῆτος, Kētos) as well as Arabic (ألقيتوس, al Ḳaiṭos) and translates variously as a large fish, a whale, a shark, or a sea monster. In Greek mythology, the cetacean constellation, although not the star itself, represents the monster slain by Perseus in his rescue of the beautiful princess Andromeda.