← Back to dex
Epic exoplanet 61 EP

tau Cet f

RA 26.0093° · Dec -15.9338° · exoplanet

Loading sky survey…
🌌 View in 3D star map
Tonight’s visibility

Computing the sky for your location…

Score breakdown

· 7 badges
61 pts · Epic
Epic 78 pts → Anomaly
  • Nearby (<25 ly) +12
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye +12
  • Disputed — it may not be there at all +10
  • Super-Earth +8
  • Orbits a Sun-like star +8
  • Multi-planet system +6
  • Confirmed exoplanet +5
Total score 61

17 more points to reach Anomaly.

Badges

  • Confirmed exoplanet · +5
  • Nearby (<25 ly) · +12
  • Super-Earth · +8
  • Multi-planet system · +6
  • Its star is visible to the naked eye · +12
  • Orbits a Sun-like star · +8
  • Disputed — it may not be there at all · +10

Trivia

What it actually is

  • What it is made of. Its density says rock, though lighter than Earth's mix: probably less iron, or a thick shell of water and ice over the top.
  • Crowded system. One of at least 3 planets orbiting its star.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Inside our stellar backyard: every radio broadcast humanity has ever made has already swept past it.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 3.5 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around October — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. A multi-generation starship could one day attempt the crossing.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 206.5 thousand years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

controversial
yes
density gcc
3.64
diameter km
23088.722
discovery facility
Multiple Observatories
discovery method
Radial Velocity
discovery year
2017
dist ly
11.7515
eccentricity
0.16
eq temp k
201.97
host star teff
5310
insolation
0.2782
mag
3.4961
mass earth
3.93
name
tau Cet f
orbital period days
636.13
radius earth
1.81
semi major au
1.334
spect
G8.5V
sys num planets
3
sys num stars
1

About tau Cet f

tau Cet f is an epic exoplanet. It lies about 11.8 light-years from Earth, shines at apparent magnitude 3.5, has spectral type G8.5V and has an equilibrium temperature near 202 K.

Its density says rock, though lighter than Earth's mix: probably less iron, or a thick shell of water and ice over the top.

How to see it

At apparent magnitude 3.5, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, tau Cet f is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why tau Cet f is an epic exoplanet

tau Cet f scores 61 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 17 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 7 science badges — Confirmed exoplanet, Nearby (<25 ly), Super-Earth, Multi-planet system, Its star is visible to the naked eye, Orbits a Sun-like star and Disputed — it may not be there at all — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.