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Exoplanet · Earth-sized rocky planet

tau Cet h

tau Cet h is a Earth-sized rocky planet orbiting the star τ Cet. Its year lasts 49.4 Earth days. It was discovered in 2017 by the Radial Velocity method.

Host starτ Cet
Distance11.8 light-years (3.60 pc)
Orbital period49.4 days
Orbital radius0.243 AU
Eccentricity0.230
Radius1.19 R⊕ · 0.106 R♃
Mass (minimum)1.83 M⊕ · 0.00576 M♃
Density5.97 g/cm³
Equilibrium temperature473 K (200 °C)
Stellar flux received8.38 × Earth
Discovery methodRadial Velocity
Discovery year2017
Discovered byMultiple Observatories

Habitable zone

Inside the inner edge of the habitable zone: it receives 8.38 times the light the Earth does, too hot to keep liquid water on its surface.

Its star in the sky

In the planet's sky its star is a disc 1.8° across: 3.4 times the Sun as we see it from Earth.

In the sky

Visible to the naked eye under a dark sky (apparent magnitude 3.49). Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 74° N. South of latitude 74° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in October, the best time to observe it.

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out around the year 2014. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 208 thousand years.

Planets in the same system

Open in the simulation

Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, PSCompPars. Its look in the simulation is a rendering based on the measured radius, mass and temperature.