Twin sunsets are a reality
Virgil:
March 29th, 2007
The 1977 science fiction movie Star Wars depicts a particular scene where Luke Skywalker, the lead character, watches the two suns of his planet set on the horizon. Set “In a galaxy far, far away”, it has turned out that such a thing may not be so fictional! New data published by NASA reveals that in galaxies far far away, and at home in the Milky Way too, planetary systems exist around twin stars just as much as around single stars like our own sun. And not only that; based on the new evidence, the scientists who are also Star Wars fans (isn’t that all of them?) have worked out that the imagery seen in the film is not in the least bit incorrect. With the planet at that distance from the suns (such that the suns look that size and that far apart), the planet could indeed by habitable by humans! So maybe way out there, a young Jedi really is gazing into the sunset of a binary star.