Vysotsky’s song about the Tau whale turned out to be prophetic. Cetus constellation: legend

Amateur astronomers can easily find the so-called water region in the night sky. Pisces and Aquarius “live” here, Eridanus “flows”. The constellation Cetus is also located here. This celestial drawing occupies a fairly large area. About one hundred of its constituent stars are accessible to observation with the naked eye in good weather.

Location

The constellation Cetus for children, as well as for adults, is a fairly simple object to detect in the sky. It has quite bright and almost everyone-known landmarks - Orion and Taurus. They are located not far to the east of the described constellation.

The whale is included among the southern celestial patterns, since only a small part of it lies in the northern hemisphere. The ideal time to observe the constellation is November. Moreover, in our country you can admire it only in the central and southern regions.

Cetus constellation: legend

Whale is one of the oldest star clusters included in the list of the Greek scientist Ptolemy. Strictly speaking, an impressively sized mammal that roams the ocean and feeds on plankton is only indirectly related to such a celestial pattern as the constellation Cetus. The legend associated with it tells of a terrible monster sent by the gods of Olympus to the country of the Ethiopian king Kepheus as punishment for his wife’s careless words about the unsurpassability of her own beauty. It was this beast, called a whale or simply a huge fish in myth, that was supposed to eat Andromeda, the daughter of Kepheus. Perseus saved the beauty, and after a while the gods immortalized all the participants in those events in the sky. Perhaps the constellation Cetus becomes interesting for children for the first time after reading this legend. Although sometimes it happens the other way around: it is filled with new meaning after meeting

The brightest

The constellation Cetus is remarkable in many ways. For example, it is not always, that is, not at all times, that one can say with certainty which star in its composition is the brightest. The status of the most noticeable luminaries usually belongs to Alpha and Beta of the celestial pattern, with the second being brighter than the first. However, sometimes the constellation Cetus is illuminated by flares of Mira (Omicron Ceti), but more on that later.

The beta of this star cluster is also called Difda or Deneb Kaitos (whale tail). This is an orange giant, entering the last stage of its Difda, which does not greatly exceed the Sun in mass (only three times), but at the same time it shines 145 times brighter than it and is 17 times larger in diameter. The orange giant is located at a distance of 96 light years from our planet.

Amazing

Several very interesting objects are included in the constellation Cetus. The stars, designated Omicron and Tau, attract the attention of many astronomers, both amateur and professional.

Omicron Ceti, already mentioned above, is also called Mira, which translated means “amazing” or “wonderful”. Its discoverer is considered to be David Fabricius, who observed the star in 1596. The luminary belongs to the type of long-period variables, designated in its honor by Miras. Their characteristic feature is a long period of change in brightness. In Mira's case, it averages 331.62 days. Surprising is the range in which it changes from 3.4 to 9.3 m. At its maximum brightness, Omicron Ceti becomes one of the brightest stars in this celestial pattern, but at its minimum it is not visible even with binoculars. At the same time, the boundaries of the range may shift: Mira can also become a 2.0 m star, that is, the brightest in the constellation. The lower boundary, in turn, sometimes shifts to 10.1 m.

Double

Mira is also a multiple star system, consisting of two luminaries. The red giant Mira A and its white dwarf companion Mira B are separated by 70 light years and rotate with an orbital period of 400 years. The features described above characterize Omicron Ceti A, but it is also a variable star. It is surrounded by a disk of material that flows here from the red giant. The substance flows unevenly, as a result of which the companion's brilliance varies from 9.5 to 12 m.

Tail

Mira fully lives up to its name. After four centuries of observing the star, it managed to surprise astronomers. In 2007, thanks to the GALEX telescope, a gigantic tail of gas and dust was discovered around the star: it extends over 13 light years, which is 3 times greater than the distance from the Sun to Proxima Centauri. According to researchers, Omicron Ceti loses a mass equal to that of Earth every ten years. As a result of the peculiarities of the star's motion, the material it ejects is blown back.

Mira's movement through outer space is another amazing property of the star. It moves in the opposite direction to most other luminaries. At a speed of approximately 130 km/s, Mira overcomes the cloud of interstellar gas flying towards it. The consequence of this is the formation of a tail.

Sun-like

Mira is not the only “attraction” adorning the constellation. Tau Ceti is an equally famous luminary of this celestial pattern. After Proxima Centauri, this is the closest star to us (distance - 12 light years). Its peculiarity is its similarity in many parameters to the Sun. Tau Ceti, like our star, is a yellow dwarf with no companions. It slowly rotates around its axis, which again makes it similar to the Sun. Meanwhile, this property of the two luminaries is not typical for stars of their spectral class. In the case of the Sun, the slow rotation is explained by the presence of a planetary system that shares the angular momentum with the sun. Until recently, speculation about the cause of Tau Ceti's slow rotation existed only at the level of guesswork.

Five planets

The horoscope constellation Cetus, as a rule, deprives of its attention as not related to the zodiac. Astronomers, unlike astrologers, believe that, with some degree of probability, the stars of Cetus can play a very significant role in the life of all humanity.

In December 2012, the slow rotation of Tau Ceti received an explanation similar to the same property of the Sun: five exoplanets were discovered around the star. Since then, the attention of many specialists in the field of astronomy and astrophysics has been focused on this system. The fact is that at least two of the discovered exoplanets are potentially suitable for life, which means they can be habitable.

All five objects are located quite compactly: the orbit of the most distant one from the star is closer to Tau Ceti than Mars is to the Sun. The first three exoplanets are therefore unsuitable for protein life: most likely, they are hot deserts, scorched by the rays of a star. Hopes for discovering, if not a developed civilization, then at least primitive organisms rest on the last two planets.

Characteristics and conditions

The fourth planet from Tau Ceti is more than three times the mass of Earth and orbits its star once every 168 days. The last indicator for the next, fifth, object of the system is approximately 640 days. The data obtained do not allow us to unambiguously determine what the temperature conditions are on these planets; however, scientists believe that the climate on the planets may be suitable for the development of life.

The situation, however, is not so simple: the Tau Ceti system, unlike the Solar system, has a huge number of asteroids and comets. According to this indicator, it is about 10 times ahead of our piece of the Galaxy. In such conditions, planets must constantly withstand collisions with massive objects comparable to the meteorite that supposedly caused the death of the dinosaurs. There is a high probability, therefore, that life, if it exists on the planets of Tau Ceti, is at a primitive level.

However, all this information still requires double-checking and more thorough analysis. At the moment, the constellation Cetus remains the place where a star with potentially habitable planets shines. Scientists have not given up hope of discovering evidence of the existence of life on these objects, for which they constantly point a radio telescope towards Tau Ceti in order to pick up possible signals from the civilization located there.

The celestial drawing has become a kind of symbol of hope and the future, which is perhaps why some companies are named after it: for example, the Center “Constellation Cetus” (RF, Novosibirsk).

Among the objects of this celestial pattern there are not only interesting stars. There are a large number of galaxies and nebulae located here. The entire constellation Cetus (stars, galaxy clusters and its other elements) is of great interest to science. Amateur astronomers do not deprive him of attention either, the value of whose activities in terms of studying the celestial bodies cannot be exaggerated.

The star Tau Ceti is located approximately 12 light years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. Such a close distance by astronomical standards allows you to see a star in the night sky even with the naked eye. The star's magnesium-to-silicon ratio is 1.78, making it about 70 percent larger than our Sun.

Tau Ceti E, located in this system, is currently a planetary candidate. In other words, scientists have not yet confirmed that this object is an exoplanet. The object was discovered in 2012. The sidereal period (the period of complete revolution of an object around a star) is 168 Earth days.

Tau Ceti E's orbit is located near the inner edge of the star's habitable zone, so there is a possibility that its surface may contain liquid water. The average temperature on the planet's surface is close to 70 degrees Celsius. For comparison, the average temperature of the Earth is about 15 degrees Celsius. The extremely hot climate of Tau Ceti E makes the planet unsuitable for human life, but may be suitable for supporting life at an early stage of its development.

Its radius is 1.1-2.0 times greater than the radius of the Earth. The mass is approximately 4.3 times the mass of our planet. All the factors noted by scientists make Tau Ceti E a suitable candidate for the presence of life in rudimentary form. It is quite possible that when humanity finally invents a method for long-distance space travel, Tau Ceti E will be able to support more complex forms of life.

Kepler 438b

The exoplanet Kepler 438b belongs to the star system Kepler 438 and is located 473 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. This star is approximately 4.4 billion years older than our Sun and belongs to the class of red dwarfs. The low brightness of a star reduces the radius of its habitable zone.

Exoplanet Kepler 438b is only 12 percent larger than Earth and has a mass between 0.6 and 4.0 times that of our planet. Scientists suggest that this exoplanet is most likely rocky and located inside the star's habitable zone, which potentially means it could contain liquid water.

The radius of Kepler 438b is approximately 1.1 times the radius of Earth. And although all other factors speak in favor of its potential habitability, life on this planet will be very difficult for humans, since the average surface temperature is 3 degrees Celsius.

It's possible that humans will someday adapt to live at these temperatures, but it won't be easy. At the moment, the planet is more suitable for the development of early life than for human colonization.

Gliese 667C E

The star Gliese 667C is a red dwarf star located 22 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpio. This red dwarf is part of a triple star system that contains two more orange dwarfs orbiting each other. The red dwarf, in turn, orbits both stars. All three stars are thought to be between 2 and 10 billion years old.

Gliese 667C E is an unconfirmed exoplanet. A year on it lasts 62 Earth days, and its radius is approximately 1.0-1.8 times the radius of the Earth. Gliese 667C E actually pushes the limits of the acceptable radius for a potentially habitable planet, but the planet's mass is about 2.7 times the mass of Earth.

This potential exoplanet is located in the comfortable habitable zone, where the presence of liquid water is possible. True, there is a problem. The planet has a synchronous orbit with its star, which means that one side of it is constantly turned towards the star and, as a result, is very hot, while the other side is constantly turned away from the star and, as a result, is very cold. Although this factor somewhat limits the potential level of habitability, it does not change the likelihood that the planet can support human life.

Kepler 186f

The star Kepler 186 is located 561 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It is a red dwarf, which is smaller and cooler than our Sun. These factors, in turn, reduce the radius of the star's habitable zone.

A year on the exoplanet Kepler 186f is equal to 130 Earth days. It is located in the habitable zone of the star and is very similar in size to Earth. Although scientists have not yet determined the mass of Kepler 186f, its radius is only 1.1 times the radius of the Earth.

The planet is located on the outer boundary of the star's habitable zone, due to which the average temperature on its surface is 0 degrees Celsius. The exoplanet would actually be on the edge of possibilities for human settlement, if not for one thing. Its dense atmosphere contains a lot of carbon dioxide.

Kepler 62f

The star Kepler 62 is located in the constellation Lyra, approximately 1,200 light years from Earth. This star has a mass and radius that is approximately 0.69 times and 0.63 times that of our Sun.

The exoplanet Kepler 62f, whose year lasts about 268 days, was discovered in 2013. Its mass is comparable to the mass of Jupiter. It is only 0.11 times the mass of our gas giant and 318 times the mass of Earth. The radius of Kepler 62f is approximately 1.4 times the radius of Earth. The planet is located in the habitable zone of the star, which makes it possible for liquid water to exist on its surface.

The average temperature here is -30 degrees Celsius, making this world very cold for humans. Nevertheless, all the facts collected about this planet speak in favor of Kepler 62f as a suitable candidate for colonization.

Kaptein B

The red dwarf Kapteyn is located 13 light years from Earth in the constellation Pictor. This star has about 0.28 times the mass and 0.29 times the radius of the Sun. The age of Kapteyn's star is estimated at 8 billion years.

The star was named after the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn who discovered it in the 19th century. This star moves relative to the Sun at a very high spatial speed. Moreover, its high apparent magnitude (brightness) makes it visible even to amateur telescopes.

Kapteyn B is an as-yet unproven exoplanet. A year on it lasts 48 Earth days. Its radius is unknown. However, its mass is five times that of the Earth. The planet may contain liquid water. Even incomplete information about the planet and its star makes Kapteyn B a potential candidate for future colonization.

Wolf 1061c

The star Wolf 1061 is a red dwarf star located 14 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. It ranks 35th among the stars closest to Earth. Its mass is approximately 0.25 times the mass of the Sun. The fact that the entire system orbits a red dwarf makes the star's habitable zone radius smaller compared to brighter stars.

Exoplanet Wolf 1061c is likely to be rocky and located in a zone where the surface temperature is suitable to support liquid water. the planet is approximately 1.8 times larger than Earth. The planet has a synchronous rotation with its star. In other words, one side is always facing the star, while the other is always facing away from it, making one side very hot and the other very cold.

This difference in temperature extremes is unlikely to make the planet a potential candidate for colonization. However, life can be maintained at the border of two temperature zones. True, the living environment here can hardly be called comfortable.

Gliese 667C F

In the system of the star Gliese 667C, in addition to Gliese 667C E, there is another object awaiting confirmation of belonging to an exoplanet. We are talking about Gliese 667C F. It was discovered in 2013 and is located 24 light years from Earth. A year on Gliese 667C F lasts 39 Earth days. The mass of the planet is approximately 2.7 times the mass of Earth. The radius of the planet is 1.5 times the radius of our planet. All known facts about the planet make it a suitable candidate for the title of a potentially habitable exoplanet.

Kepler 442b

The star Kepler 442 is approximately 3 billion years old. Its mass and radius are 0.61 times and 0.60 times greater than the mass and radius of the Sun, respectively. Kepler 442 is located 1100 light years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

The presence of the exoplanet Kepler 442b in this system was discovered in 2015. The planet's shadow dimmed the brightness of its star, an orange dwarf, as astronomers monitored it. Scientists have found that a year on Kepler 442b lasts approximately 112 Earth days. The radius of the exoplanet is 1.34 times the radius of the Earth. Most likely, Kepler 442b belongs to the rocky type of planets and is located in the zone of the system where the presence and maintenance of water in liquid form is possible on the surfaces of the planets. Among all the exoplanets found by February 2016, Kepler 442b is considered by scientists as the most similar to Earth.

Gliese 667C C

The exoplanet Gliese 667C C also orbits the red dwarf Gliese 667C. Its orbital period is about 28 Earth days. The planet's mass is approximately 0.01 times the mass of Jupiter. Scientists have not yet been able to figure out what kind of planet it is - gaseous or rocky.

However, Gliese 667C C is located in the habitable zone, where planets can support liquid water. Therefore, most likely, this is a rocky planet, and therefore, given the combination of all known factors, humanity will one day be able to settle on it.

Based on this selection, many exoplanets may indeed someday become a new haven for humanity. However, undoubtedly, only after we invent ways of interstellar travel.

Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus. It is located in the Southern Hemisphere and is one of the closest to Earth: the celestial bodies are separated by less than 12 light years.

Tau Ceti is a dim yellow star with slight fluctuations in brightness. In terms of age and physical parameters, it is very similar to the Sun, but is much inferior to it in mass and radius: they are about 0.7 solar.

The similarity has led to the star becoming extremely attractive to astronomers keen on searching for extraterrestrial civilizations. Back in the middle of the twentieth century, the American scientist F. Drake searched for and sent radio signals as part of the famous Ozma project.

Mention of the star is often found in literature, and V. Vysotsky dedicated a funny song to her about meeting his brothers in mind. But only in 2012, with the development of observational optics, it was possible to track 5 exoplanets orbiting Tau Ceti.

4 facts about Tau Ceti and its planets

Astronomers from several countries, under the leadership of the Englishman M. Twomey, analyzed more than 6 thousand observations from telescopes located in different places. Research has shown that variations in the speed of Tau Ceti may be due to the influence of a system of 5 planets with constant orbits, an orbital time of 14 to 640 days and a mass 2–7 times that of Earth.

All discovered exoplanets are rocky. Since the star's luminosity is almost half that of the sun, they receive much less heat. And because of the massive debris belt around Tau Ceti, planets could suffer from frequent asteroid impacts.

They are approximately twice as old as the Earth, which means they had time to develop life. The two inner ones are most likely too hot, since they are located very close to the luminary. But the planet, with a mass 25% greater than Earth’s and an orbital period of 168 days, has a moderate temperature and has a sufficient amount of water. This makes it possible to assume the presence of living organisms on it!

Astronomers emphasize the need for more research to confirm the presence of exoplanets around Tau Ceti. But the sensational news has already spread widely, once again arousing the dreams of earthlings about meeting their brothers in mind.

Find the mysterious Tau Ceti in and give it as a gift. Let it become a symbol of the pursuit of dreams and dreams come true.

MOSCOW, December 19 – RIA Novosti. Astronomers have discovered five planets at once, including one potentially habitable, around the famous star Tau Ceti, which scientists “listened to” half a century ago in search of signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, says an article accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The star Tau in the constellation Cetus (HD 10700) is visible in the sky as a third magnitude star. It is located 11.9 light years from Earth and is very similar in its parameters to our Sun. It has the same spectral class (G) and approximately the same age (Tau Ceti - 5.8 billion years, the Sun - 4.57 billion years), its mass is 78.3% of the Sun. Therefore, in 1960, American astronomer Frank Drake made this star and the star Epsilon Eridani the first targets of “Project Ozma,” in which scientists listened to radio signals from these stars in the hope of detecting traces of alien intelligence.

Tau Ceti was widely mentioned in the press, as well as in popular science and fantasy literature, and the journey to the “Taukitians” became the plot of one of Vladimir Vysotsky’s songs.

A group of astronomers from Britain, Chile, the USA and Australia, led by Mikko Tuomi from the University of Hertfordshire (UK), decided to test a new high-precision method of measuring radial velocities - the speed of the star's movement towards and away from the observer - in observations of this star.

Measuring radial velocities by recording Doppler shifts in a star's spectrum allows one to measure very weak motions caused by planetary gravity. Astronomers have developed a new, high-precision method for “cleaning” data of noise and distortion by “subtracting” modeled noise, which will make it possible to find very light planets - by recording radial velocities below 1 meter per second.

"We chose Tau Ceti for this study because we thought there would be no signal from it. Moreover, this star is so bright and so similar to our Sun that it is ideal as a calibration target to test our planet detection method." , says study co-author Hugh Jones from Hertfordshire.

The astronomers used data on Ceti's tau from three spectrographs at once - the HARPS spectrograph installed on the 3.6-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, UCLES on the Anglo-Australian Telescope in Siding Spring (Australia) and HIRES installed on the 10-meter telescope at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Scientists analyzed the data and discovered periodic fluctuations in the radial velocity of the star, which indicated the presence of a planetary system.

"This periodicity can be interpreted as a manifestation of the presence of planets in stable near-circular orbits, with orbital periods of 13.9, 35.4, 94, 168 and 640 days, and minimum masses of 2, 3.1, 3.6, 4.3 and 6.6 Earth masses, respectively,” the article says.

If the data obtained are confirmed, then the Tau Ceti system will become the second planetary system closest to the Solar one - after.

In addition, one of the five Tau Ceti planets - the one with an orbital period of 168 days and a mass of 4.3 Earth - found itself in the "life zone" - an area where water can exist in a liquid state, which means there are conditions for existence living organisms.

However, scientists emphasize that additional independent measurements are needed to confirm the presence of planets around the star Tau Ceti.