Holy Science Fiction reality! NASA planet-hunters say they have sighted the first known world to circle two stars – much like Star Wars own desert planet, Tatooine. The planet in question has been named Kepler-16b and it “orbits a red and an orange star in the constellation Cygnus.”
Tatooine. Two moons. Two stars. Too cool for words.
Here’s a quote from MSNBC’s Cosmic Log:
“Beyond the ‘Star Wars’ angle, Kepler-16b is significant because it shows once again that a wide variety of star systems can foster planets, and perhaps habitable planets at that. ‘This is an example of another planetary system, a completely different type that no one’s ever seen before,’ Doyle said. ‘That’s why people are making a big deal out of this.’
William Borucki, an astronomer at NASA’s Ames Research Center who serves as the Kepler mission’s principal investigator, said the research ‘confirms a new class of planetary systems that could harbor life.’
‘Given that most stars in our galaxy are part of a binary system, this means the opportunities for life are much broader than if planets form only around single stars,’ Borucki said in a NASA news release. ‘This milestone discovery confirms a theory that scientists have had for decades but could not prove until now.’
Doyle said Kepler-16b almost certainly will not be the last double-sunset planet discovered by the $600 million Kepler mission. When the numbers all added up, ‘I didn’t feel like it’s the end of 20 years of searching … it felt like the beginning of something’ he said. ‘I predict that in the next couple of months, we’re going to have some more.’ ”
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Would have been an ultra cool discovery if it was a rocky planet instead of a gas giant, but it is still an awesome discovery. Look forward to actually being able to one day visit all of these distant planets
Let’s celebrate! Blue Milk for all!
Mathematically bound to happen… billions of times
Its nice to get some perspective
Tbh – just name it tatooine. It’s only a matter of centuries until NASA gets bored of boring names and just reverts to serenity/star wars/lord of the rings related names for planets.
I thought for a moment they had found a desert planet – but apparently not.
But sitll, kool find though.
Now we know why Jawa’s are so short!
I read an article on Tuesday that was similar but that the planet that was discovered is actually within the “habitable zone.” Pretty cool age we live in.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=17212752&nid=1012
[...] shot down as Thing One said, “But there’s already a moon. It will look like Tatooine.” I countered that it might be cloudy, and wondered since when has a touch of Star Wars [...]