Discovery of a Second System with Multiple 'Tatooine Worlds' - Reinforcing the Existence of Circumbinary Planets

 Astronomers have uncovered the existence of a second system housing multiple "Tatooine worlds" - a term coined to describe exoplanets orbiting twin stars. This discovery reaffirms the belief that these Star Wars-esque planets are more prevalent than initially presumed. Circumbinary planets or "Tatooine worlds" reside within binary star systems, resulting in two sunsets visible from the planet's surface, akin to the scenery on Luke Skywalker's imaginary home planet Tatooine. 

The first such planet, Kepler-16b, was spotted in 2011, with two more, Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b, unveiled the following year. Since then, the count of these unique worlds has reached 14, with most discoveries attributed to NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, decommissioned in 2018.

In a recent study published in Nature Astronomy, scientists turned their terrestrial telescopes towards BEBOP-1, a star system situated approximately 1,320 light-years away. The intent was to study BEBOP-1b, a circumbinary planet first identified in 2020. However, the team discovered a new circumbinary planet, BEBOP-1c, marking the 15th known Tatooine world, and establishing BEBOP-1 as a multi-planetary circumbinary system (MCS). The name "BEBOP" originates from the project "Binaries Escorted By Orbiting Planets," responsible for discovering the star system.

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New Tatooine-like exoplanet discovered orbiting twin suns. ...

Scientists discover a planet straight out of Star Wars