Researchers identify five double star systems potentially suitable for life

#science #exoplanets #starwars #tatooine #planets #astrophysics #astronomy #space #physics

Almost half a century ago, the creators of Star Wars imagined a life-sustaining planet, Tatooine, orbiting a pair of stars. Now, 44 years later, scientists have found new evidence that that five known systems with multiple stars, Kepler 34, 35, 38, 64, and 413, are possible candidates for supporting life. A newly developed mathematical framework allowed researchers those systems -- between 2764 and 5933 light-years from Earth, can support a permanent "habitable zone". Of these systems, Kepler 64 is known to have at least four stars orbiting one another at its center, while the others have two stars. All are known to have at least one giant planet the size of Neptune or greater. This study, published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, is proof of principle that the presence of giant planets in binary systems does not preclude the existence of potentially life-supporting worlds.

Reference:
Circumbinary Habitable Zones in the Presence of a Giant Planet
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2021.640830

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