Tau Ceti

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Tau Ceti was the star of an inhabited star system with at least four planets. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

The location of Tau Ceti was depicted on two Federation star charts. In the first chart, first seen in 2293, it was depicted as being near Sol, Alpha Centauri, and Sirius. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

In 2364, several small charts depicted Tau Ceti in the same general area of space with Barnard's Star, Sol, Alpha Centauri A, B, C, Lalande 21185, Wolf 359, Procyon A, B, Sirius A, B, Epsilon Eridani, Groombridge 34 A, B, Ross 248, Luyten 789-6, Epsilon Indi, 61 Cygni A, B and Ross 154.(TNG: "The Naked Now", "The Last Outpost")

The system was also quite some distance away from Starbase 133, at warp 9.5 it took 123 days to get there. (TNG: "Remember Me", "Journey's End")

History

Some time before 2151, the Tau Ceti system was the site of the Tau Ceti Accords, a set of peace agreements, signed between the Vulcan High Command and the Andorian Empire. (ENT: "Shadows of P'Jem")

In 2155, in the mirror universe, Tau Ceti was the system in which the Terran Empire lost twelve ships in a battle against alien rebels. Propaganda had spread that this was a major victory for the Terran Empire, when in fact it was a sign they were losing. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

At some point prior to 2268, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, engaged and defeated a Romulan vessel near Tau Ceti, using the Cochrane deceleration maneuver. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")

In Starfleet Academy's Kobayashi Maru scenario, in 2285, Amber on Tau Ceti IV was listed as the home port of the tanker/transport Kobayashi Maru. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

Some time before 2348, Jean-Luc Picard first met Walker Keel at an exotic bar on Tau Ceti III. Some time after this Keel introduced Jack Crusher to Beverly Howard. (TNG: "Conspiracy")

Some time before 2358, the father of Kathryn Janeway, Vice admiral Janeway, died under the polar ice cap of Tau Ceti Prime. (VOY: "Coda")

Tau Alpha C was the homeworld of The Traveler, (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before") located in the Tau Ceti system (TNG: "Journey's End") Members of the Travelers species were capable of existing outside of time, and had very little interest in associating with other more primitive species, until the 2360s, when they became aware of Humans like Wesley Crusher. (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before")

In 2367, in an alternate universe created by the thoughts of Doctor Beverly Crusher inside a warp bubble, Tau Alpha C disappeared along with the entire universe when the warp bubble began to collapse. (TNG: "Remember Me")

System

The primary was Tau Ceti. There were at least five planets in the system that were inhabited planets: Tau Alpha C, Tau Ceti III, Tau Ceti IV, Tau Alpha C, and Tau Ceti Prime.

Star-chart alpha-beta quadrant.jpg

The Explored Galaxy: The location of Tau Ceti

Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology: The location of Tau Ceti

The Kobayashi Maru data screen mentioning Tau Ceti IV

Background

Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology

The Enterprise computer's star chart was a drawing by Rick Sternbach that had originally been published in 1979 on page 77. This chart showed Earth commercial and exploration routes after the use of warp drive began. Tau Ceti was a destination on an exploration route.

The Explored Galaxy

This chart was also seen in several Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes set in the 24th century, from the year 2364 to 2370. These were: TNG: "Conspiracy", "The Measure Of A Man", "The Emissary", "The Mind's Eye", "The Game" and DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets", "Cardassians".

Star Trek: Star Charts

Tau Ceti was located in the Alpha Quadrant. The planet Kaferia was located in this system. The system's primary was a Class G star. Magnitude of this star was +5, which was the same brightness as Sol. This system was named as a stop on the Vulcan trade routes in the mid-22nd century. By 2378, this system was an affiliate of the Federation.

Apocrypha

According to The Worlds of the Federation, Tau Ceti III was the homeworld of the Kaferians. (Kaferian at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works)

According to the novel Enterprise: The First Adventure, Tau Ceti was located along the Romulan Neutral Zone and the inhabitants of Tau Ceti II were widely regarded as possessing great mineralogical expertise, using sapphires as the local currency.

External links

• Tau Ceti at Wikipedia
• Tau Ceti at the Internet Stellar Database
• Tau Ceti at SolStation.com