Celestia Forums

Considering its inferred great age, can we expect Tau Ceti to be less active as far as sunspots go? I'd like to make a texture of it for my Tau Ceti add-on, but I don't know if it is worth the effort if it wouldn't appear significantly different from your average G-type sun.

...John...

Of course, we don't really know what ANY other star looks like in detail beyond the fact that some have brightness variations over their surface.
http://www.solstation.com/stars/tau-ceti.htm doesn't mention anything about sunspots... but I'd guess it probably looks similar to the Sun (a little more orange though).

So really, I wouldn't call it worth the size and effort to add a texture for that star, then.

Thanks!

...John...

Malenfant wrote:Of course, we don't really know what ANY other star looks like in detail beyond the fact that some have brightness variations over their surface.

Actually, the only star other than our own whose surface has been directly photographed is Betelgeuse, and the largest prominent convections have been regularly observed.

http://www.solstation.com/stars/tau-ceti.htm doesn't mention anything about sunspots... but I'd guess it probably looks similar to the Sun (a little more orange though).

To human eyes, things would appear just slightly more yellowish (more like late afternoon on Earth). It's also a smaller star than our own, so any habitable world will be a little bit closer. It's still one of the best candidates for habitability in our local neighbourhood of stars, along with Eta Eridani and the primary stars of the Alpha Centauri star system.

d.m.f.

d.m.falk wrote:

Malenfant wrote:Of course, we don't really know what ANY other star looks like in detail beyond the fact that some have brightness variations over their surface.

Actually, the only star other than our own whose surface has been directly photographed is Betelgeuse, and the largest prominent convections have been regularly observed.

That's actually the one I was thinking of when I mentioned the brightness variations