Just saw that Tatoonie, Luke Skywalkers home planet that orbits two suns in the Star Wars series, has been trending on Yahoo. Which is odd because it is a fictional planet and what could happen to it? So, being who I am, I clicked on it and apparently scientist have found a planet that orbits two suns just like in the movie.
Pretty cool, but oddly timed seeing that tomorrow is the release of the Star Wars: Complete Sage on Blu-ray. I’m just saying. Melissa said it best, “I wonder how much George Lucas paid NASA for this one…”
The Christian Science Monitor has the story on this binary system:
Tatooine for real? Scientists confirm planet orbiting two suns.
Cue the “Star Wars” theme, but look no farther than 200 light-years away in our own galaxy for the first confirmed planet orbiting two suns – in effect, a frigid, oversize Tatooine.
On Thursday, a team of scientists with NASA‘s Kepler planet-hunting mission announced the discovery. Unlike Luke Skywalker‘s mythical home, however, this planet is more like Saturn in mass and makeup – a thick gaseous atmosphere surrounding a rocky core.
The planet’s core has 40 to 60 times the mass of Earth, the Kepler scientists estimate. Temperatures range between an Antarctica-like minus 100 and minus 150 degrees F.
To read the rest of the article go to: The Christian Science Monitor