You have to love it when the scientific community leverages Star Wars analogies to define a scientific discovery. In this case, the discovery of a world in the universe with two suns orbiting a single planet – just like the Star Wars world Tatooine. NASA’s Kepler Mission discovered the world, now known as Kepler-16b, after its discovering mission. Using the Kepler space telescope a team from SETI discovered the Kepler system of 16 planets orbiting a star and Kepler 16-b looks like it has two eclipses from earth as measured by seeing dips in the light delivered through a telescope. According to a Press Release, Kepler 16-b is a bit different then Tatooine as it is cold, gaseous, and inhospitable. For more information please visit the NASA Kepler Press Release.
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So were you going for “IS there really a Tatooine?” or “There really IS a Tatooine!” Which “IS” must go?
Hi Louis, you are you right…I update the title. Thank you.
It’s a planet orbiting two stars not two planets (or moons) orbiting one star. In Star Wars, Tatooine had two setting suns.
Jason, you are right-thanks! Updated the post.