These Planets Have Two Suns Like Tatooine

Is Tatooine real? Celebrate Star Wars Day as we explore the fascinating possibility that Luke Skywalker’s home world could actually exist in a galaxy far far away. May the fourth be with you! In the Star Wars universe, you know Tatooine as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker’s home planet, with its austere desert landscape and two suns rising and setting in the sky. In the early days of discovering exoplanets, astronomers weren't sure that circumbinary planets, which orbit around two stars, could exist. They thought that the gravitational forces of multiple stars might destabilize planetary orbits. However, over time, more than 175 multi-star systems with planets have been discovered, including some with three or even four stars in them. These planets that orbit around two stars are now officially called circumbinary planets, but many astronomers also informally refer to them as "Tatooines", after the iconic planet in the Star Wars universe.