Now, according to a new discovery by NASA scientists, it turns out that such a scene may well be playing out as you're reading this — in a galaxy far, far away.
Well, sort of… NASA hasn't announced the existence of a distant, warring republic, but they have discovered a new planet which appears to orbit two suns.
The largest two-sun exoplanet discovered yet. This Jupiter-sized giant has a 1,107 day year!https://t.co/NVKF0FkXxF pic.twitter.com/WH9XSIW0KR
— NASA Kepler and K2 (@NASAKepler) June 13, 2016
Kepler-1647 is 3,700 light years away and approximately 4.4 billion years old — roughly the same age as Earth — and it orbits two stars very similar to our own sun.
The star system itself is too faint to see with the naked eye, and was spotted by a team of astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and San Diego State University (SDSU), using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.
New Planet Is Largest Discovered That Orbits Two Suns: #Kepler1647 #exoplanet #Kepler https://t.co/3Cdyj2q1dl
— Richard Par (@RichTPar) June 13, 2016
In truth, this isn't the first such — circumbinary extrasolar — planet to have been discovered by astronomers; that honor belongs to the snazzily titled "PSR B1620-26", located in the M4 cluster, which can be seen relatively easily amidst the constellation of Scorpius.
PSR B1620-26 b, one of the oldest known planets. Located 12,400 light-years away, and about 12.7 billion years old, pic.twitter.com/QmMMb13VGW
— Mike (@MikeTaylor2011) May 30, 2016
SDSU astronomer William Welsh said that "finding circumbinary planets is much harder than finding planets around single stars… transits are not regularly spaced in time and they can vary in duration and even depth."
The new Tatooine-like planet — Kepler-1647b — is essentially a giant ball of gas though, so experts say it's unlikely to host life, but if it has large moons they could well be suitable for life.
"Habitability aside, Kepler-1647b is important because it is the tip of the iceberg of a theoretically predicted population of large, long-period circumbinary planets," Welsh said.
New Planet Is Largest Discovered That Orbits Two Suns. Read about Kepler-1647b from @NASA: https://t.co/ub99T6W4Mm pic.twitter.com/MHTRatIO17
— StarTalk (@StarTalkRadio) June 14, 2016
Researchers will now spend a number of years conducting grueling computer tests as to the exact make-up of the newly discovered planet, as well as what looks like some sort of half finished, giant man-made moon orbiting close by.
Actually, that last bit was made up. No "Death Star" has been discovered — so far.
