Nasa's Kepler telescope finds Tatooine, sort of

[pauldarkside]

Nasa's Kepler telescope finds planet orbiting two suns

A planet orbiting two suns - the first confirmed alien world of its kind - has been found by Nasa's Kepler telescope, the US space agency announced.

It may resemble the planet Tatooine from the film Star Wars, but scientists say Luke Skywalker, or anyone at all, is unlikely to be living there.

Named Kepler-16b, it is thought to be an uninhabitable cold gas giant, like Saturn.

The newly detected body lies some 200 light years from Earth.

Though there have been hints in the past that planets circling double stars might exist, scientists say this is the first confirmation

'Stunning'

It means when the day ends on Kepler-16b, there is a double sunset, they say.<continued>

Edit: The press release is much better, here's a snip:

NASA'S Kepler Discovery Confirms First Planet Orbiting Two Stars


WASHINGTON -- The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA's Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting two stars -- 200 light-years from Earth.

Unlike Star Wars' Tatooine, the planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life, but its discovery demonstrates the diversity of planets in our galaxy. Previous research has hinted at the existence of circumbinary planets, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Kepler detected such a planet, known as Kepler-16b, by observing transits, where the brightness of a parent star dims from the planet crossing in front of it.
"This discovery confirms a new class of planetary systems that could harbor life," Kepler principal investigator William Borucki said. "Given that most stars in our galaxy are part of a binary system, this means the opportunities for life are much broader than if planets form only around single stars. This milestone discovery confirms a theory that scientists have had for decades but could not prove until now."

[kopite]

AWESOME!!
Wonder if they have managed to spot the Great Pit of Carkoon yet?

[Stringent]

Coincidence seeing its the release of Star Wars on Blu-Ray? Didnt they find one of Saturns moons which looked like the Death Star when Star Wars first came out? Conspiracy theories I'll tell ye!

[Alphyn]

That's pretty damn awesome.