Tau Ceti e, also called 52 Ceti e, is an unconfirmed
exoplanet candidate orbiting
Tau Ceti, first detected in 2012 by statistical analyses of the
star's variations in
radial velocity obtained using
HIRES,
AAPS and
HARPS.[1][2] Its possible properties were refined in 2017, where it was one of two planets recovered from new data, the other being
Tau Ceti f. It would orbit at a distance of 0.552
AU (between the orbits of
Venus and
Mercury in the
Solar System) with an orbital period of 168 days and has a
minimum mass of 3.93 Earth masses.[3] If Tau Ceti e possesses an Earth-like atmosphere, the surface temperature would be around 68 °C (341 K; 154 °F).[4] Based upon the incident flux upon the planet, a study by Güdel et al. (2014) speculated that the planet may lie inside the inner-boundary of the
habitable zone and be a Venus-like world.[5]
References
^Tuomi, Mikko; Jones, Hugh R. A.; Jenkins, James S.; Tinney, Chris G.; Butler, R. Paul; Vogt, Steve S.; Barnes, John R.; Wittenmyer, Robert A.; O'Toole, Simon; Horner, Jonathan; Bailey, Jeremy (2013). "Signals embedded in the radial velocity noise. Periodic variations in the tau Ceti velocities". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 551: A79.
arXiv:1212.4277.
Bibcode:
2013A&A...551A..79T.
doi:
10.1051/0004-6361/201220509.
ISSN0004-6361.
S2CID2390534.