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| [[Image:Compare sun tau ceti.png|right|thumb|300px|The Sun (left) is both larger and somewhat hotter than the less active Tau Ceti (right).]]
| | The author's title is Andera and she thinks it sounds fairly great. The favorite pastime for him and his children is to perform lacross and he would by no means give it up. My working day occupation is a travel agent. North Carolina is where we've been residing for years and will never move.<br><br>Also visit my blog post: accurate psychic readings - [http://brazil.amor-amore.com/irboothe take a look at the site here], |
| The [[planetary system]]s of [[star]]s 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 in fiction|Alpha Centauri A]]) having [[Stellar classification#Class G|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 <math>\begin{smallmatrix}M_\odot\end{smallmatrix}</math>, is metal-poor<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flynn |first1=C |last2=Morell |first2=O |title=Metallicities and kinematics of G and K dwarfs |journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] |year=1997 |volume=286 |issue=3 |pages=617–625 |bibcode=1996astro.ph..9017F |arxiv = astro-ph/9609017 |accessdate=2012-05-23 }}</ref> and so is thought to be unlikely to host rocky planets (see ''[[#Literature|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,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Greaves |first1=J S |last2=Wyatt |first2=M C |last3=Holland |first3=W S |last4=Dent |first4=W R F |title=The debris disc around tau Ceti: a massive analogue to the Kuiper Belt |journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] |year=2004 |volume=351 |issue=3 |pages=L54–L58 |bibcode=2004MNRAS.351L..54G |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07957.x |accessdate=2012-05-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Porto de Mello |first1=G F |last2=del Peloso |first2=E F |last3=Ghezzi |first3=L |title=Astrobiologically interesting stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun |journal=[[Astrobiology]] |year=2006 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=308–331 |doi= 10.1089/ast.2006.6.308 |pmid=16689649 |bibcode=2006AsBio...6..308P |arxiv = astro-ph/0511180 }}</ref> (See ''[[#Literature|Time for the Stars]]'' by Robert Heinlein below.)
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| 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry G |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkh%3Dtos |title=κῆτος |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |accessdate=2012-05-23 }}</ref> In Greek mythology, the cetacean constellation, although not the star itself, represents the monster slain by Perseus in his rescue of the beautiful [[Cetus (mythology)#Mythology|princess Andromeda]].
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| ==General uses of Tau Ceti==
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| Many stars may be referred to in fictional works for their [[metaphor]]ical or [[mythology|mythological]] associations, or else as bright points of light in the [[night sky|sky of Earth]], but not as locations in space or the centers of planetary systems.
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| The constellation Cetus lies close to the celestial equator and intersects the plane of the ecliptic, which allows it to be seen from most of the Earth's surface. However, because of its unprepossessing appearance in the sky, and its want of a "good" traditional name to supplement its esoteric Bayer designation, Tau Ceti has rarely if ever been used in a general sense, either in traditional mythologies or in the arts and literature that draw sustenance from them.
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| The star's popularity as a subject of science fiction stems not from its general cultural resonance, but from the [[Tau Ceti|astronomical data]]: | |
| * Its proximity, ~11.9 light-years distant
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| * Its similarity to the Sun, ~0.78 <math>\begin{smallmatrix}M_\odot\end{smallmatrix}</math>, spectral type G
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| * Its short but technical sounding name, in this context a benefit rather than a detriment
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| * Its capacity to host a family of earth-like planets (proven in 2012)
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| ==Literature==
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| * ''[[The Queen of Zamba]]'' (1949), and other novels, novellas, and short stories in the [[Viagens Interplanetarias]] series (1949–1991) by [[L. Sprague de Camp]]. Following upon [[First contact (science fiction)|first contact]] with men from Earth, the inhabitants of pre-technological '''Krishna''' struggle to adapt to a future that will be radically different from their past, assisted by a cast of rogues, heroes, and charlatans from our own planet. The Tau Ceti system contains the inhabited planets Krishna, '''Vishnu''', and '''Ganesha'''. The Krishna tales (all having a "Z" in their titles) are early examples of the [[planetary romance]], containing a blend of intelligent, exotic adventure and wry humor characteristic of de Camp's better work.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=308–310 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=De Camp, L Sprague }}</ref>
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| * ''[[The Caves of Steel]]'' (1954) and many following works in the ''[[Robot series (Asimov)|Robot]]'', ''[[Galactic Empire (series)|Empire]]'', and ''[[Foundation series|Foundation]]'' series by [[Isaac Asimov]]. In Asimov's fictional universe, the innermost planet orbiting Tau Ceti was mankind's first extrasolar planetary settlement: '''Aurora''', the first world settled by the [[Spacer (Asimov)|Spacers]], and at its height possessing a population of 200 million humans and 10 billion robots. In ''Caves'' Doctor [[List of Robot series characters#Han Fastolfe|Han Fastolfe]] is debating the limitations of Earthmen with detective [[List of Robot series characters#Elijah Baley|Lije Baley]]: "Why is the suggestion ridiculous? Earthmen have colonized planets in the past. Over thirty of the fifty Outer Worlds, including my native Aurora, were directly colonized by Earthmen."<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Caves of Steel]] |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |authorlink=Isaac Asimov |year=1991 |publisher=[[Bantam Books|Bantam Spectra]] |location=New York |page=12 |isbn=0-553-29340-0 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Time for the Stars]]'' (1956), novel by [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Heinlein]]. This novel explores the [[twin paradox]] as one of a pair of twins linked by instantaneous telepathy sets out on a space voyage on the interstellar torchship ''Lewis and Clark''. The starship, nicknamed "Elsie" (for the initials L.C.) encounters a number of more or less terrestrial planets including '''Constance''', in orbit around Tau Ceti, a world later colonized by humans. Heinlein uses an obsolete value for Tau Ceti's luminosity—0.3 <math>\begin{smallmatrix}L_\odot\end{smallmatrix}</math>—and calculates that earthlike Constance must orbit its star at a radius of 50 million miles.{{refn |group=note |The calculation of the orbital radius ''r''<sub>C</sub> of a planet C (Constance) receiving earth-level insolation from Tau Ceti, based on the modern value of its intrinsic stellar luminosity as ''L''<sub>τ{{font|text={{unicode|★}}|size=10px}}</sub> = [[Tau Ceti#Name|0.52 ± 0.03 ''L''<sub>{{font|text={{unicode|⊙}}|size=15px}}</sub>]],<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pijpers, F P |title=Selection criteria for targets of asteroseismic campaigns |journal=[[Astronomy and Astrophysics]] | volume=400 |issue=1 |pages=241–248 |year=2003 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20021839 | bibcode=2003A&A...400..241P|arxiv = astro-ph/0303032 }}</ref> is:
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| :(''r''<sub>C</sub>)<sup>2</sup>/(''r''<sub>{{font|text={{unicode|⊕}}|size=15px}}</sub>)<sup>2</sup> = (''L''<sub>τ{{font|text={{unicode|★}}|size=10px}}</sub>)/(''L''<sub>{{font|text={{unicode|⊙}}|size=15px}}</sub>) → (''r''<sub>C</sub>)<sup>2</sup>/(93×10<sup>6</sup> mi)<sup>2</sup> = 0.52''L''<sub>{{font|text={{unicode|⊙}}|size=15px}}</sub>/''L''<sub>{{font|text={{unicode|⊙}}|size=15px}}</sub> → (''r''<sub>C</sub>)<sup>2</sup> = 0.52(93×10<sup>6</sup> mi)<sup>2</sup> → ''r''<sub>C</sub> = (√0.52)*93×10<sup>6</sup> mi {{font |text={{unicode|≳}} |size=17px}} 67×10<sup>6</sup> mi.
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| By way of comparison, the average orbital radius ''r''<sub>{{unicode|♀}}</sub> of Venus around the Sun is likewise a little more than 67 million miles.}}<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Time for the Stars]] |last=Heinlein |first=Robert A |authorlink=Robert A. Heinlein |year=1990 |publisher=[[Tom Doherty|Tom Doherty Associates]] |location=New York |page=94 |isbn=978-0-765-31494-9 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Destination: Void]]'' (1966), novel by [[Frank Herbert]]. As an artificial intelligence experiment, a crew of clones is raised in isolation on the Moon believing that they are the crew of a [[sleeper ship]] dispatched on a colonizing expedition to the Tau Ceti system, captained by the Organic Mental Core, a disembodied human brain. The kicker is, ''Tau Ceti has no planets.'' It's all part of the experiment... This somewhat clotted tale, a distinctly minor effort, was published contemporaneously with Herbert's seminal Hugo and Nebula-award winning ''Dune''—one of the most famous of all science fiction novels.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=558–560 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Herbert, Frank }}</ref>
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| [[Image:Bussard Interstellar Ramjet Engine.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Artist's conception of a '''Bussard ramjet'''. One key component of the ramjet—a miles-wide electromagnetic field that scoops up interstellar hydrogen for fuel—is invisible.]]
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| * ''[[Empire Star]]'' (1966), novella by [[Samuel R. Delany]]. The story revolves around the protagonist, Comet Jo, and a narrator-creature named Jewel. It is a tale of Comet Jo’s coming-of-age, his initiation into the ways of galactic society, his efforts to deliver an unspecified but important message to the ''Empire Star'', and his encounter with a movement to bring an end to slavery. As the narrative opens, we meet Comet Jo at eighteen years of age. He has spent his entire life in a ''simplex'' society on '''Rhys''', a satellite of the [[Gas giant|Jovian]] planet '''Tyre''' orbiting Tau Ceti: "Crimson Ceti bruised the western crags; Tyre, giant as solar Jupiter, was a black curve against a quarter of the sky..."{{refn |group=note |Delaney mistakenly identifies Tau Ceti as a [[red giant]]<ref name=Delaney /> when, in actuality, it is a G-type star somewhat smaller than the Sun.}}<ref name=Delaney>{{cite book |title=[[Babel 17]]/[[Empire Star]] |last=Delaney |first=Samuel R |authorlink=Samuel R. Delaney |year=2002 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |pages=3–4 |isbn=0-37-570669-0 }}</ref> The first insight of Jo's developing maturity is his realization that the "simplex" culture of his home is actually quite "[[Simplicial complex|complex]]"...
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| * ''[[A Gift from Earth]]'' (1968), [[Known Space]] novel by [[Larry Niven]]. The colony world '''Plateau''' in the Tau Ceti system lives by a rigorous code: All crimes are punishable by involuntary organ harvesting, while organ transplants are reserved to the benefit of the aristocracy. A robotic '''[[Bussard ramjet]]''' (see graphic) arrives from Earth, bearing a gift that will upset the unstable social balance on Plateau.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[A Gift from Earth]] |last=Niven |first=Larry |authorlink=Larry Niven |year=1968 |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |location=New York |pages=15''ff'' |isbn=0-345-35051-0 }}</ref> The relative proximity of Tau Ceti to the Earth (with a turnaround point at [[Luyten 726-8|UV Ceti]]) is an important plot element in the novel, enabling Plateau to be isolated from the mother planet, and yet still close enough to receive occasional cargoes via ramjet. The exploitation of the interstellar ramjet is just one of Larry Niven's many technical coups; as his career blossomed he was seen by many as the last best hope of hard science fiction with his inventiveness, his belief in the ultimately beneficial effects of technology, and his cognitive exuberance.<ref name=LNiven>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=873–875 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Niven, Larry }}</ref>
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| * ''[[The Iron Dream]]'' (1972), novel written by [[Norman Spinrad]]. In this satirical [[alternate history]], Adolph Hitler emigrates as a youth to the United States, where he becomes first a pulp science fiction illustrator, then a hack genre author of distinctly limited talents. In a story-within-a-story he pens a potboiler novel entitled ''Lord of the Swastika'', which culminates in legions of seven-foot, blond, superintelligent male SS clones being shipped off to Tau Ceti where they will establish a colony as the first step to a literal thousand-year reich and galactic domination.
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| * ''[[The Dispossessed]]'' (1974), novel by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. '''[[Urras (fictional planet)|Urras]]''' and its moon/co-planet '''[[Anarres]]''' form a binary pair that in turn orbits Tau Ceti. Urras has two major nation-states named A-Io (a cold-war analog of the United States) and Thu (a Soviet analog); the two rivals are fighting a proxy war in a third state, Benbili.{{refn |group=note |''The Dispossessed'' was published during the last year of the Vietnam War, a proxy struggle between America and the Soviet Union.}} Anarchical Anarres has been settled by exiles from Urras; it is the home of the physicist Shevek, who in a conceptual breakthrough (a common Le Guin theme)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=702–705 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Le Guin, Ursula K }}</ref> develops the mathematics behind the ''ansible'', a device enabling instantaneous communication throughout the galaxy.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Dispossessed]] |last=Le Guin |first=Ursula K |authorlink=Ursula K. Le Guin |year=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |location=New York |pages=276; 343 |isbn=0-06-105488-7 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Cylinder van Troffa]]'' 1980), Polish language novel (''[[:pl:Cylinder van Troffa|Cylindra van Troffa]]'') by [[Janusz Zajdel]]. This is the story of a group of astronomers who are approaching Earth after a 200-year journey from their colony world '''Filia''' (Latin for ''daughter'') in the Tau Ceti system. They discover that their ancestors, the original colonists, were an intelligent elite who long ago left the Earth. At the time of their return our planet is no longer habitable.
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| * ''[[Downbelow Station]]'' (1981) and other [[Alliance-Union universe]] works, novels by [[C. J. Cherryh]]. The "Downbelow Station" of the title is Pell Station, orbiting the planet '''[[Downbelow (planet)|Downbelow]]''' in the Tau Ceti system. The ''Hisa'' are Downbelow's native inhabitants. Also called Downers by humans, they are gentle and friendly primate-like bipeds covered in brown fur with large eyes, possessing only the most rudimentary technology. Pell is the terminus of the "Great Circle" chain of space stations that links stars in the galactic vicinity of the Earth. As Cherryh states in her 2001 introduction to the novel, "... I selected a set of insignificant stars that lie near enough to each other to serve as a highway of waystops on the route to another truly interesting star, Tau Ceti ... which is Pell, by the way.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Downbelow Station]] |last=Cherryh |first=C J |authorlink=C. J. Cherryh |year=2001 |publisher=[[DAW Books|DAW]] |location=New York |page=2 |isbn=0-756405-50-5}}</ref>
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| [[File:Wormhole travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA.jpg|right|thumb|300px|'''Wormhole''' travel as envisioned by Les Bossinas for NASA.]]
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| * "Tauf Aleph" (1981), short story by [[Phyllis Gotlieb]]. '''Tau Ceti IV''' is a marshy wet world inhabited by the Cnidori, hermaphroditic herbivores, and the Unds, giant creatures that prey upon them. The sometime caretaker and possibly the religious leader of the Cnidori is a lone human being: ''Samuel Zohar ben Reuven Begelman lived to a great age in the colony Pardes on Tau Ceti IV and in his last years he sent the same message with his annual request for supplies to Galactic Federation Central: "Kindly send one mourner/gravedigger so I can die in peace respectfully."''<ref>{{cite book |title=More Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction |chapter=Tauf Aleph |last=Gotlieb |first=Phyllis |authorlink=Phyllis Gotlieb |editor1-last=Isaac Asimov |editor1-link=Isaac Asimov |year=1999 |publisher=[[Jewish Lights Publishing]] |location=Woodstock, VT |page=6 |isbn=1-580-23063-6 }}</ref> Galactic Federation Central is unable to comply because Samuel is the last Jew anywhere in the galaxy—except perhaps for the Cnidori themselves.
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| * ''[[Shards of Honor]]'' (1986), leadoff novel in the [[Vorkosigan Saga]] (1986- ), series of science fiction novels and short stories by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]. The Tau Ceti system is home to a major inhabited planet, ruled by a unified planetary government. Travel between star systems in the Vorkosigan universe is accomplished via '''[[wormholes]]''' (see graphic), spatial anomalies that allow instantaneous “jumps” between widely separated locations by means of five-dimensional space folding. Tau Ceti derives a great part of its galactic economic and military importance from its location near a multivalent wormhole junction.
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| * ''[[The Legacy of Heorot]]'' (1987), first novel in the Heorot trilogy (1987–1997) by [[Larry Niven]], [[Steven Barnes]], and [[Jerry Pournelle]]. Two hundred colonists arrive on the paradise world '''Avalon''' ('''Tau Ceti IV''') to found a new community, having made the 100-year journey from Earth in suspended animation. The colonists, all selected for their outstanding physical and mental attributes, make a terrible discovery: Their intelligence and reasoning skill have been damaged in transit, a devolution that will ill serve them in their upcoming struggle with the native ''grendels'' for control of their new land.
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| [[File:Spacecolony1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Artist's depiction of a pair of '''O'Neill cylinders''' forming a habitat in space.]]
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| * ''[[Hyperion (Simmons novel)|Hyperion]]'' (1989), novel by [[Dan Simmons]]. As the novel begins, the "Hegemony Consul" is interrupted in his playing of Rachmaninoff's ''Prelude in C-sharp minor'' to the dinosaurs of a savage jungle planet by a ''fatline'' message from the Hegemony administrative world of '''Tau Ceti Center'''. The message is of irrefutable authenticity, and its contents is unwelcome: he has been chosen to return to Hyperion as a member of the [[Hyperion Cantos#The Shrike|Shrike]] Pilgrimage.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Hyperion (Simmons novel)|Hyperion]] |last=Simmons |first=Dan |authorlink=Dan Simmons |year=1989 |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |location=New York |pages=3–4 |isbn=0-553-28368-5 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Rama Revealed]]'' (1993), novel written by [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[Gentry Lee]], a sequel to the novels ''[[Rendezvous with Rama]]'', ''[[Rama II (novel)|Rama II]]'', and ''[[The Garden of Rama]]''. The '''''Rama''''' of the title is an alien starship, a prototypical [[Big Dumb Object]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=118–119 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Big Dumb Objects |others=The satirical provenance of this ESF article is described in the Wikipedia article [[Big Dumb Object]] }}</ref> that arrives without warning in the Solar System in 2130. Explorers discover that the huge vessel is a hollow world-environment in the style of an '''[[Island Three|O'Neill cylinder]]''' (see graphic). Over the course of seven decades and four novels humanity slowly apprehends the nature of the purpose and the advanced alien intelligences behind the Rama artifacts; in "Revealed" a contentious crew of colonists sails the ''Rama II'' to a great tetrahedral '''Raman Node''' in the Tau Ceti system, its final destination where the purpose of the universe is revealed—to those who are deemed worthy enough—by the Nodal intelligence.
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| * ''[[Worldwar]]'' (1994–1996), tetralogy of novels written by [[Harry Turtledove]]. In this revised history, an Earth in the throes of World War II is invaded by a fleet of starships assembled for the purpose by [[The Race (Worldwar)|The Race]], natives of the desert world Tau Ceti II, which they call '''Home'''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turtledove |first=Harry |authorlink=Harry Turtledove |title=[[Worldwar: Tilting the Balance]] |year=1995 |publisher=[[Del Rey Books]] |location =New York |page = 608 |isbn = 0-345-38998-0 }}</ref> Only three times in its 50,000-year history has this expansionist species of reptilian aliens organized such an armada, each time with the goal of subduing another civilization: the Rabotev, the Halessi, and now humanity. However, the invaders are in for a surprise, as their most recent intelligence on the Earth dates from the Middle Ages. Alternate world stories are a specialty of historian Turtledove, whose "thorough understanding of his source material gracefully infiltrates the fun and fantastication."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |page=1246 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Turtledove, Harry }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Galactic Milieu Series#Magnificat|Magnificat]]'' (1996), third novel in the [[Galactic Milieu Series|Galactic Milieu]] series written by [[Julian May]]. When an informant lets slip that the Krondak navy is assembling a huge armada at their Eleventh Sector Base on '''Molokar''', a planet of Tau Ceti ("less than twelve light-years from Earth"), the Rebellion faction of the Human Polity fears that ''the Milieu'', an enemy alliance, may be planning a preemptive strike on the Earth, with the aim of cutting her off from her colonies. May's overall narrative line follows the Rebel protagonists as they flee via time travel from this 22nd-century catastrophe into our own deep prehistory—with the attendant struggle of two alien races for control of the young planet (in the earlier-published series [[Saga of Pliocene Exile]])—and then forward again through time to the present era, all with a sense of romance and high purpose.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |page=790 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=May, Julian }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Robert J. Sawyer#Bibliography|Starplex]]'' (1996), novel by [[Robert J. Sawyer|Robert Sawyer]]. When his deep-space station ''Starplex'' is heavily damaged in a catastrophic space battle, Keith Lansing needs to report to Earth—fast—and the fastest way possible is via the ''shortcut network'': a vast array of hyperspace gateways, built by a mysterious progenitor race, enabling instantaneous interstellar travel. Lansing flies his shuttle into Starplex station's shortcut portal, expecting to rematerialize in the outskirts of the Tau Ceti system, stop by New Beijing on '''Tau Ceti IV''', and then dash the last 11.8 light-years home to Earth. But something goes wrong, and he emerges from the shortcut in unknown space, bare kilometers from an indescribably beautiful, robins-egg blue, alien ''dragon ship''. He is seen...<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Robert J. Sawyer#Bibliography|Starplex]] |last=Sawyer |first=Robert J |authorlink=Robert J. Sawyer |year=2010 |publisher=[[Red Deer Press]] |location=Markham, ONT |page=16 |isbn=978-0-88995-444-1 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[List of Star Trek: Voyager novels#Unnumbered Books|Mosaic]]'' (1997) and ''[[List of Star Trek: Voyager novels#Unnumbered Books|Pathways]]'' (1999), ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' novels written by [[Jeri Taylor]] as part of the film, television, and print franchise originated by [[Gene Roddenberry]]. USS ''Voyager'' captain [[Kathryn Janeway]] is the central protagonist of the television series, who must guide her ship back to Federation space after a "displacement wave" strands it on the far side of the galaxy, more than 70,000 light-years from Earth. She is also quite unattached—in the fictional tradition of Star Trek starship captains—and novelist Taylor provides her with a father and a fiancé, both tragically lost to separate accidents on the planet '''Tau Ceti Prime''' (her father, Vice Admiral Janeway, drowned under the polar icecap).
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| * ''[[Halo: First Strike]]'' (2003), novel set in the [[Halo (series)|Halo universe]] and written by [[Eric Nylund]]. The Tau Ceti system is populated by a significant [[Covenant (Halo)|Covenant]] presence in 2552, in the form of a long-dreaded and massive fleet of warships that is destined to attack the Earth itself, together with the redoubtable refit and repair station [[Unyielding Hierophant]]. The station is destroyed by [[Factions of Halo#United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] forces on September 13, 2552, along with the majority of the Covenant fleet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nylund |first=Eric S |authorlink=Eric Nylund |year=2003 |title=[[Halo: First Strike]] |pages=364–385 |chapter=chapters 33-35 |publisher=[[Tom Doherty|TOR Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7653-2834-2 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Leviathan Wakes]]'' (2011) uses Tau Ceti as the destination for a mass Mormon pilgrimage.
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| * In the [[Honorverse]] novel [[Torch of Freedom]], Tau Ceti is mentioned briefly, in connection with a fictional HD series, some episodes of which were produced there.
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| ==Film and television==
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| ===Star Trek===
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| The items in this subsection all refer to works in the film, television, and print franchise originated by [[Gene Roddenberry]].
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| * ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'' (1982), film written by [[Jack B. Sowards]] and directed by [[Nicholas Meyer]]. The film opens with a space battle between the ''USS Enterprise'' and a Klingon ship that turns out to be a simulation: the [[Kobayashi Maru]] test for cadets pursuing the command track at Starfleet Academy. This simulation confronts the subject with a moral and strategic dilemma. Should he rescue the disabled civilian vessel ''Kobayashi Maru'' if it means violating a peace treaty with the Klingons and the risk of war, or should he observe the spatial proscriptions of the treaty and abandon the ship to certain extinction? The city Amber on '''Tau Ceti IV''' is the homeport of the 3rd class neutronic fuel carrier ''Kobayashi Maru'', and her master Kojiro Vance.
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| * "[[Where No One Has Gone Before]]" (1987), episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' written by [[Diane Duane]] and [[Michael Reaves]], and directed by [[Rob Bowman (filmmaker)|Rob Bowman]]. The ''Traveler'', a native of the planet '''Tau Alpha C''' in the Tau Ceti system, visits the USS ''Enterprise''-D in 2364. The mysterious humanoid possesses the ability to alter time and space with his thoughts, due to his mastery of the concept that "matter, energy, and thought" are related and interchangeable. As a sociological assessment of the maturity of the ship's crew, the Traveler arranges for the ''Enterprise'' to approach the Outer Rim, one of the oldest parts of the universe—and a place where human beings are assaulted by all sorts of hallucinations and fantasies.
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| * "[[Conspiracy (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Conspiracy]]" (1988), episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' written by [[Tracy Tormé]] and directed by [[Cliff Bole]]. Captain Walker Keel of the USS ''Horatio'' secretly contacts Captain Picard to request a face-to-face meeting. Keel is an old friend—the two first met years ago at "quite an exotic" bar on '''Tau Ceti III'''—and Picard is quick to accept. At the meeting, Keel warns Picard and several other captains to be wary of directives from the possibly compromised [[Starfleet|Starfleet Headquarters]], advice reinforced when the USS ''Enterprise'' soon afterwards comes upon the wreckage of the sabotaged ''Horatio''. Keel's suspicions are borne out as it becomes clear that certain senior admirals are controlled by invading alien parasites.
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| ===Other film and television===
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| [[Image:Fonda3.JPG|right|thumb|300px|Barbarella (actress Jane Fonda) subjected to erotic overload in the '''Excessive Machine'''.]]
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| * ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]'' (1968), film written by Vittorio Bonicelli ''et al'' and directed by [[Roger Vadim]] based on Jean-Claude Forest's French [[Barbarella (comics)|Barbarella]] comics. Barbarella is assigned by the President of Earth to retrieve Dr. Durand Durand—inventor of the Positronic Ray—from the planet '''Tau Ceti''' that he might use it to help save the Earth. The mission starts badly as she crashes on an icy plain of her destination world. After a lengthy and complicated sequence of concussions, captures, rescues, grateful copulations, wardrobe malfunctions, and repeated changes into ever scantier costumes, culminating in a confrontation with the Tyrant of the decadent city of Sogo{{refn |group=note |The name ''Sogo'' for the City of Night is likely an [[acronym]] coined from '''So'''dom and '''Go'''morrah.}}, Barbarella discovers Durand Durand—who has other ideas than returning to Earth with her, starting with the '''Excessive Machine''' (see graphic). The alien world of Tau Ceti is distinguished by a real, if intermittent sense of wonder created by the sheer otherworldliness of the production design and art direction.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |year=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin’s Press|St Martin’s Griffin]] |location=New York |page=89 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Barbarella }}</ref>
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| * ''[[Terror of the Zygons]]'' (1975), serial written by [[Robert Banks Stewart]] for the television series ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The Doctor and Sarah become involved in a plot by the Zygons, led by their warlord Broton, to take over the Earth, using the Loch Ness Monster—an armoured cyborg of great power—as a cat's-paw, and using their shape-shifting ability to infiltrate human defenses. The Zygons are in need of a new planet because their homeworld Zygor was destroyed in an attack by the Xaranti, an arachnid race from Tau Ceti.
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| * ''[[The Stones of Blood]]'' (1978), serial written by [[David Fisher (writer)|David Fisher]] for the television series ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The Doctor and Romana are about to embark in search of the third segment of the ''Key to Time'' when they abruptly find themselves face to face with the ''Nine Travelers'', a group of standing stones on Boscombe Moor in Cornwall. It turns out that the stones, nourished by sacrifices of human blood, are disguised Ogri, an alien life form from the planet '''Ogros''' in the Tau Ceti system. Struggles follow, and there is danger, but in the end the surviving Ogri are forcibly repatriated, another segment of the ''Key'' is recovered, and all is well.
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| * ''[[The Powers of Matthew Star]]'' (1982–1983), television series written by David Carren ''et al'' and directed by [[Barry Crane]] ''et al''. An intergalactic armada conquers '''Quadris''', a planet of the Tau Ceti system. Crown prince E'Hawke escapes with his guardian and factotum D'Hai to the nearby Earth, where they assume the cover identities of Walter Shepherd and Matthew Star. Star is a typical American teenager (albeit with special powers). He has friends; people who love him. He has adolescent male fans who find in him a vehicle for vicarious wish-fulfillment.
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| * ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' (1997–2002), Canadian television series created by [[Gene Roddenberry]] and directed by [[David Winning]]. The alien Taelons are somewhat dubiously welcomed to a refuge on the Earth, where their advanced technology ushers in a golden age. It turns out, however that this race is sterile and dying, and at the same time intent on bioengineering humanity—at the cost of human self-determination—to serve as proxy warriors in a final confrontation with their millennial hereditary enemies, the Jaridians of Tau Ceti.
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| ==Comics==
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| Most of the items in this section are manga or light novels by Japanese authors.
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| * ''[[Skizz]]'' (1983–1995), comic books by [[Alan Moore]] published by [[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]] Comics. Zhcchz, an alien interpreter and a native of Tau Ceti, crash lands on Earth and his ship self-destructs in an attempt to prevent his unauthorized contact with the primitive Earthlings—an event that turns his sedate, unexciting life into a nightmare. Alone in a strange world known to its natives as "Birmingham" where even the food is hostile to him, "Skizz" is befriended by schoolgirl Roxanne O'Rourke and several other misfits who keep him safe from the authorities.
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| * ''[[2001 Nights]]'' (1984–1986), manga by [[Yukinobu Hoshino]]. ''2001 Nights''{{refn |group=note |The name of this collection of tales is heavy with allusions in both English and Japanese. The English (''2001 Nights'') is an obvious reference to the Arabic classic, ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' (''trans. e.g.'' [[Richard Francis Burton|Sir Richard Burton]] (1885)). The Japanese 2001夜物語 (''Nisen'ichiya Monogatari'', or ''2001 Tales'') recalls the seminal Japanese literary classic 源氏物語 (''Genji Monogatari'', or ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' ) by [[Murasaki Shikibu|Lady Murasaki]] (11th century). }} is largely inspired by classic hard science fiction, with many visual homages to previous science fiction novels and films. The tale of Night 4, "Posterity" (1985), tells of an interstellar seedship that voyages from the Earth to the planet '''Ozma''' in the Tau Ceti system carrying a cargo of embryos that will form the nucleus of a new human colony.
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| * ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' (1992), manga by [[Naoko Takeuchi]]. The [[Death Busters]] are a group of antagonists in the Sailor Moon metaseries. Their goal is to bring the alien creature [[Death Busters#Master Pharaoh 90|Master Pharaoh 90]] to Earth, an event that would wipe out all life here. Pharaoh 90 is a malevolent monster from the Tau Ceti system, appearing as a huge, black eyeball-like sphere with tentacles.
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| * ''[[Bodacious Space Pirates]]'' (2008- ), [[light novel]] series written by [[Yūichi Sasamoto]]. The [[Bodacious Space Pirates#Terminology|Colony Federation]] is rebelling against their colonial masters, the [[Bodacious Space Pirates#Terminology|Stellar Alliance]], seeking independence and the right of self-rule. Schoolgirl Marika Kato, born on the colony world '''Uminoakehoshi''' ('''Tau Ceti III''', ''Sea of the Morning Star''), assumes her father's heritage as a space pirate, under a letter of marque issued by the Federation. She's quite good at it.
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| ==Games==
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| [[Image:Magellan - artist depiction.png|thumb|right|300px|Artist's conception of the first '''Magellan probe''' orbiting the planet Venus, with the Sun in the background (1990). Given Tau Ceti's spectral similarity to our own star, the picture serves equally well as a likeness of a fictional Magellan probe exploring '''New Earth'''.]]
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| * ''[[Task Force Games|Cerberus: The Proxima Centauri Campaign]]'' (1979), strategy board game designed by [[Stephen V. Cole]] and published by [[Task Force Games]]. Humanity tries to colonize a world in the Proxima Centauri system that is already inhabited by aliens from Tau Ceti. The game revolves around ground combat between the rival races. Note that Proxima Centauri, at 4.24 light-years from Earth, is about 13.37 ly from Tau-Ceti, giving us the claim of proximity while leaving the right of prior possession to the Cetians.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cerberus: The Proxima Centauri Campaign |work=[[BoardGameGeek]] |url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3245/cerberus-the-proxima-centauri-campaign |accessdate=2013-01-01 }}</ref>
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| * ''[[BattleTech]]'' (1984), wargame and related products launched by [[FASA|The FASA Corporation]]. Tau Ceti is the first star outside our Solar System to be explored by human beings, first by an automated interstellar '''[[Magellan (spacecraft)|Magellan probe]]''' (see graphic), and later by men who fare forth in the JumpShip TAS ''Pathfinder'', the latter vessel being powered by a superluminal Kearny-Fuchida drive. The pioneers discover a watery earthlike world in orbit around the star, attended by a single moon (Lanna); the planet will be colonized and named '''New Earth'''.
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| * ''[[Tau Ceti (video game)|Tau Ceti]]'' (1985–1987, various platforms), computer game designed by [[Pete Cooke]] and published by the [[CRL Group]]. The year is 2164. A robot rebellion has sealed off '''Tau Ceti III''', and previous attempts at retaking the planet have ended in failure. The last best chance of restoring human control is to send in a single pilot (the player) in a small ship, with the mission of infiltrating the capital city Centralis and shutting down the central reactor—the power source on which the robots depend.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taking a Shufti* at Tau Ceti |url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/22/tauceti.htm |work=CRASH - The Online Edition |accessdate=2012-06-22 |others=([[:wiktionary:shufti|* definition of ''shufti'']]) }}</ref>
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| * ''[[2300 AD]]'' (1986), role-playing game published by the [[Game Designers' Workshop]]. '''Kwantung''' ('''Tau Ceti II''') is a temperate garden-like world harboring the Manchurian colony ''Changpai'' and the Mexican colony ''Nuevo Angeles''. The Tau Ceti system sits astride the main access route to the Latin Systems.
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| * ''[[Battlelords of the 23rd Century]]'' (1990), paper and pencil role-playing game designed by Lawrence R. Sims and published by [[Optimus Design Systems]]. The Galactic Alliance, spanning several galaxies, comprises twelve races (including Humans), and is run behind the scenes by large corporations that hire battlelords (the game players) to further their ends by all means legal and illegal. One of the Alliance races are the Phentari, haughty and treacherous, schizophrenic cephalopod warriors. They are methane-breathers from the cold marsh-gas world '''Phena''' in the Tau Ceti system.
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| * ''[[Frontier: Elite II]]'' (1993) and ''[[Frontier: First Encounters]]'' (1995), computer games written by [[David Braben]] ''et al''. Tau Ceti is orbited by the densely populated earthlike world known as '''Taylor Colony''', a member of the Federation. This planet was the first permanent human settlement outside Solar System, and the first extraterrestrial planet known to support life.
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| * ''[[Marathon (video game)|Marathon]]'' (1994), first-person shooter video game developed and published by [[Bungie]]. The year is 2794. The player a security officer stationed on the ''Marathon'', a multi-generational colony spacecraft built by hollowing out Deimos, former satellite of Mars. The ''Marathon'' has arrived in the Tau Ceti solar system and is supporting the colonization of '''Tau Ceti IV'''. As the game starts, the ship is attacked by a race of alien slavers called the Pfhor.
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| * ''[[Escape Velocity (video game)|Escape Velocity]]'' (1996), ''[[Escape Velocity Override]]'' (1998), and ''[[Escape Velocity Nova]]'' (2002), computer games developed and published by [[Ambrosia Software]]. The plot of the original ''Escape Velocity'' revolves around war between the Confederation government and the Rebellion against it. The game player may choose sides based on a wide variety of criteria. One of the major participants in the conflict is the Tau Ceti system, due in large part to its proximity to hyperlinks and, in the third game, wormholes. Tau Ceti remains an important center in all three games, although their plots are unrelated.
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| * ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'' (1999), video strategy game developed by [[Firaxis Games]] and published by [[Electronic Arts]]. Inspired by Meier's earlier success ''Civilization'', and set in the 22nd century, this game begins when seven competing ideological factions land on the planet Chiron in the Alpha Centauri star system. The ''Tau Ceti flowering'', in which an experiment in planet-level sentience accidentally destroyed all animal life in the Tau Ceti system, serves as the primary argument used by the alien Progenitor [[Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire#Setting|Manifold Caretakers]] faction against launching further flowerings in other systems—such as Alpha Centauri itself.
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| * ''[[System Shock 2]]'' (1999), first person action video game designed by [[Ken Levine (game developer)|Ken Levine]] and published by [[Electronic Arts]]. In the year 2114 the starship ''Von Braun'' and her military escort, the ''Rickenbacker'', respond to a distress signal from '''Tau Ceti V'''. Once on the ground, the would-be rescuers are impressed into an alien communion that calls itself the ''Many''—a creation of the malevolent AI, [[SHODAN]]. The player must destroy and cleanse from the ships those crew members who are in thrall to the ''Many'', and then confront and defeat SHODAN in cyberspace.
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| [[Image:Eve Online - Empyrean Age screenshot.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Artist's rendering: ''Rifter''-class frigates after a successful attack against an ''Armageddon''-class battleship in an inter-factional war in the New Eden galaxy, the setting for the '''EVE Online''' MMORPG.]]
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| * ''[[Earth & Beyond]]'' (2002), online role-playing game published by [[Electronic Arts]]. Three cohorts of humanity: the acquisitive, mercantile ''Terrans''; the perfectionist, genetically-engineered ''Progen''; and the philosophical ''Jenquai'' dwell together in the Solar System in uneasy equilibrium. The balance is shattered by the discovery of a StarGate, an artifact left by an ancient civilization. There follow war, stalemate, peace, rapid settlement of the galactic neighborhood, and domination of commerce by Terran cartels. One of the first human colonies established, and the terminus of the vast ''Somerled Trade Run'', is the Terran outpost on Tau Ceti.{{refn |group=note |Compare the Somerled Trade Run to the "Great Circle" chain of corporate space stations terminating at Tau Ceti in C J Cherryh's 1981 ''[[#Literature|Downbelow Station]]'' (above).}}
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| * ''[[EVE Online]]'' (2003), [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] developed and published by [[CCP Games]]. The wormhole connecting mankind's second galaxy, New Eden, to the Milky Way collapses and leaves all its colonies stranded. After a dark interregnum, and some thousands of years, five spacefaring cultures arise there: the Amarr Empire, the Caldari State, the Gallente Federation, the Minmatar Republic and the Jove Directorate. Game play is concerned with the wars, rivalries, and alliances between these factions (see graphic). Although memories of the home galaxy have receded into the mists of time, it is known that the Gallente homeworld was originally settled by descendants of the French colonists of Tau Ceti.
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| * ''[[Pirate Galaxy]]'' * (2009). The system Tau Ceti is the home of Methanoids.
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| * ''[[Maia (video game)|Maia]]'' (2013), strategy simulation game by [[Simon Roth]], described by Roth as "''[[Dungeon Keeper]]'' meets ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' on a primordial alien world".<ref name="Kickstarter">{{cite web|url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simonroth/maia/posts?page=3|title=Maia|last=Roth|first=Simon|website=Kickstarter|accessdate=12 August 2013}}</ref> In 2113 the human race began its first extra solar colonisation program. One of the targets of this endeavour was Maia. Maia, sitting a mere twelve light years away in the Tau Ceti system, was a world in flux. The colonization process had commenced almost twenty years earlier. Barrages of satellites equipped with powerful solid state lasers were placed in geosynchronous orbit around the planet. Their mission to slow and deflect major meteoric threats. The dense volcanic atmosphere was then seeded with sulfur, in an effort to calm and cool it. After a brief fourteen years of orbital terraforming, earth's political elites deemed the planet safe for human settlement, despite little being known about the surface.
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| ==Other media==
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| * "[[Songs of a Dead Dreamer (album)#Track listing|Galactic Funk (Tau Ceti Mix)]]" (1996), fourth track on the [[electronica]] album ''[[Songs of a Dead Dreamer (album)|Songs of a Dead Dreamer]]'' by [[DJ Spooky]]. The track features a guitar ostinato in the foreground, combined with hydrophonic Moog sequences in the early measures, followed by extensive mixing with [[Humpback whale|humpback]] [[Whale sound|whale songs]] through the end of the piece. Note that the star Tau Ceti is in the tail of the whale (the constellation Cetus).
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| * ''A Constellation of Tau Ceti'' (2001), translation by George Tokarev of the Russian language satirical song ''В созвездии Тау Кита'' (1966) by [[Vladimir Vysotsky]]. Vysotsky makes fun of astronomer Frank Drake's 1960 [[Project Ozma|attempted contact]] with the supposed inhabitants of Tau Ceti (''Their bourgeois system is naughty / Their humor is nasty and dirty!'') in a ballad that describes the singer's putative visit to the star, whose female inhabitants no longer need men, having turned to inoculations for procreation. He hastens home, knowing that because of [[time dilation]] several ages will have passed here, and fearing that the women of Earth will have engineered similar advances in the nonce.<ref>{{cite web |title=A constellation of Tau-Ketite |url=http://www.wysotsky.com//1033.htm?501 |work=Wysotsky translated |accessdate=2012-07-15 }}</ref>
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| ==See also==
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| Tau Ceti is referred to as a location in space or the center of a planetary system unusually often in fiction. For a list containing many stars and planetary systems that have a less extensive list of references, see [[Stars and planetary systems in fiction]].
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| * [[Betty and Barney Hill abduction#Analyzing the star map|Map analysis of the 1961 Zeta Reticuli Incident]]
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| ==Notes and references==
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| ===Notes===
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| {{reflist|group=note}}
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| ===References===
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| {{reflist}}
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| {{Astronomical locations in fiction}}
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| <!--Categories-->
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| [[Category:Stars in fiction]]
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