Tau Octantis, Latinized from τ Octantis, is a solitary star in the southern circumpolar constellation Octans. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.50, allowing it to be faintly seen with the naked eye. The object is located at a distance of 480 light years but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of .
Tau Octantis has a stellar classification of K2 III, indicating that the object is a red giant. It has 114% the mass of the Sun but is 223 times as luminous. However, an enlarged radius of yields an effective temperature of 4,422 K, giving it an orange glow. Tau Octantis has an iron abundance 132% that of the Sun and is believed to be a member of the old disk population. Currently, it spins with a projected rotational velocity less than .