Tau Ceti is a G-class star very similar to our sun, but slightly smaller with about 78% of the mass, 80% of the diameter, and 45% of the luminosity. It is 11.9 ly distant and the 19th nearest star system. At magnitude 3.5 it is easily visible to the naked eye under reasonably dark conditions and is the seventh nearest naked-eye star.
The image below was taken last night as the constellation Cetus was rising above our eastern ridgeline. This ridge rises up to about 15 deg above the horizon as seen from my location and is the western flank of Snowshoe Mountain. Tau Ceti is the star in the middle of the white circle. Saturn is in the upper right and below it and slightly to the left is the star Fomalhaut. There is a lot of green airglow visible in the images from last night.
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Sony A7iii + Samyang 24mm f/1.8 + softon filter. ISO 1600, 30s.
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Tau Ceti. E-P5 + Rokinon 135mm f/2. ISO 1600, 60 s. 2-deg square.
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UV Ceti
UV Ceti is a double star about 2 deg away from Tau Ceti. It consists of two red dwarfs separated by about 0.9", with a combined magnitude of 11.96. The UV Ceti system is the sixth nearest star system to ours at 8.57 ly.
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UV Ceti. E-P5 + Rokinon 135mm f2, ISO 1600, 60s. 2-deg square.
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YZ Ceti
About 7.5 deg from Tau Ceti is YZ Ceti, a solitary magnitude-12.0 red dwarf at a distance of 12.1 ly. This makes it the 21st closest star system.
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YZ Ceti. E-P5 + Rokinon 135mm f2, ISO 1600, 60s. 2-deg square.
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