Scientists discover 27 potential new planets that orbit two stars in solar systems far, far away

On ‘Star Wars day’, researchers more than double the number of potential known ‘circumbinary’ planets like the fictional Tatooine, home to Luke Skywalker Astronomers have discovered 27 new potential planets that orbit two stars, like the fictional desert planet Tatooine from the Star Wars universe. To date, only about 18 circumbinary planets – which orbit around two stars – had been identified in the universe. More than 6,000 planets have been discovered that orbit single stars, like Earth does around the sun. In a timely publication for 4 May, also known as Star Wars Day, scientists have identified nearly 30 more candidate planets, whose distances range from 650 to 18,000 light years away from Earth. “There are many things in astronomy that aren’t very tangible,” said Associate Prof Ben Montet of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the study’s senior author. But thanks to the famous Tatooine sunset scene in the first Star Wars film, “everyone has a picture of what a circumbinary planet looks like and what would it mean to stand on a planet with two suns”. More than half of the stars in the universe exist in binary or multiple star systems. Scientists previously identified ci