Tau Ceti e

Tau Ceti e
Artistic depiction of Tau Ceti e as a terrestrial planet.
Discovery
Discovery dateDecember 19, 2012
Radial velocity
Designations
52 Ceti e, Tau Ceti e
Orbital characteristics
0.552 AU
168 d
Physical characteristics
Mass≥3.93 M🜨

Tau Ceti e, also called 52 Ceti e, is an exoplanet candidate orbiting Tau Ceti, first detected in 2012 by statistical analyses of the star's variations in radial velocity obtained using HIRES, AAPS and HARPS.[1][2] Its possible properties were refined in 2017, where it was one of two planets recovered from new data, the other being Tau Ceti f. It would orbit at a distance of 0.552 AU (between the orbits of Venus and Mercury in the Solar System) with an orbital period of 168 days and has a minimum mass of 3.93 Earth masses.[3] If Tau Ceti e possesses an Earth-like atmosphere, the surface temperature would be around 68 °C (341 K; 154 °F).[4] Based upon the incident flux upon the planet, a study by Güdel et al. (2014) speculated that the planet may lie inside the inner-boundary of the habitable zone and be a Venus-like world.[5]

A 2021 study was unable to confirm this planet.[6]

  1. ^ Tuomi, Mikko; Jones, Hugh R. A.; Jenkins, James S.; Tinney, Chris G.; Butler, R. Paul; Vogt, Steve S.; Barnes, John R.; Wittenmyer, Robert A.; O'Toole, Simon; Horner, Jonathan; Bailey, Jeremy (2013). "Signals embedded in the radial velocity noise. Periodic variations in the tau Ceti velocities". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 551: A79. arXiv:1212.4277. Bibcode:2013A&A...551A..79T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220509. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 2390534.
  2. ^ "Four Exoplanets Detected around Nearby Star Tau Ceti | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  3. ^ Feng, Fabo; Tuomi, Mikko; Jones, Hugh R. A.; Barnes, John; Anglada-Escude, Guillem; Vogt, Steven S.; Butler, R. Paul (2017-09-05). "Color difference makes a difference: four planet candidates around tau Ceti". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (4): 135. arXiv:1708.02051. Bibcode:2017AJ....154..135F. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa83b4. ISSN 1538-3881. S2CID 53500995.
  4. ^ Bignami, Giovanni F. (2015-06-13). The Mystery of the Seven Spheres: How Homo sapiens will Conquer Space. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-17004-6.
  5. ^ Guedel, M.; Dvorak, R.; Erkaev, N.; Kasting, J.; Khodachenko, M.; Lammer, H.; Pilat-Lohinger, E.; Rauer, H.; Ribas, I.; Wood, B. E. (2014). "Astrophysical Conditions for Planetary Habitability". Protostars and Planets VI. arXiv:1407.8174. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816531240-ch038. ISBN 9780816531240. S2CID 118447677.
  6. ^ Cretignier, Michael; Dumusque, Xavier; et al. (September 2021). "YARARA: Significant improvement in RV precision through post-processing of spectral time series". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 653: A43. arXiv:2106.07301. Bibcode:2021A&A...653A..43C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202140986.