Astronomers search for more temperate ‘Tatooines’

Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker may have had a slightly less harsh childhood if he had grown up on the more temperate Tatooine — as a new study has identified.

According to the study authors, are more climate friendly The planets I Binary star systems-In other words, the two suns – were already known. And, he says, it could be a sign that, at least in some ways, the universe leans toward orderly alignment rather than chaotic misalignment.

For the study, the researchers looked at planets in binary star systems — systems where individual planets orbit a host star, with another nearby star orbiting the entire system. (The fictional desert planet Tatooine from the “Star Wars” movies is in a binary star system.)

“We show for the first time that there is an unexpected cluster of systems where everything has order,” said Milena Rice, assistant professor of astronomy in the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the new study. which was published I Astronomical Journal. “The planets orbit in the same direction as the first star, and the second star orbits in the same plane as the planets in the system.”

Rice’s team used a variety of sources, including the Gaia DR3 catalog of high-precision stellar astronomy, the Planetary Systems Composite Parameters Table from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and the TEPCat catalog of exoplanet spin-orbit angle measurements, 3D geometries To create 3D geometry. star system.

The researchers found that nine of the 40 systems they studied had “perfect” alignment.

“This could be an indication of that. Planetary systems like to push toward an organized setting,” Rice said. “This is also good news for the formation of life in these systems. “Stellar companions that align differently can wreak havoc on planetary systems, collapsing them or warming the planets over time.”

How would the world see a more temperate Tatooine?

During certain seasons of the year, it will be continuous daylight, with one star illuminating one side of the planet while the other star illuminates the other half of the planet. But that sunlight won’t always be warm because one of the stars will be too far away.

At other times of the year, both suns illuminate the same side of the planet, with one sun appearing much larger than the other.

Rice will give a presentation on the study in March. Extreme Solar Systems Conference in New Zealand.