Everyone, buckle up—we’re heading to Tatooine! Good news for all the Star Wars fans out there, especially the die-hard Original Trilogy crowd—this news is for you. Scientists have just discovered a planet that orbits two stars. Sound familiar? Yep—this newly found world bears an uncanny resemblance to Tatooine, complete with twin suns.
According to astronomers at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., the planet—designated 2M1510 (AB) b, orbits a pair of brown dwarfs. These are substellar objects often described as “failed stars,” and this particular planet is located roughly 120 light-years away from Earth. What makes it even more fascinating is its unique polar orbit. Instead of circling around the equator of its twin stars, it takes a sharp 90-degree path across their poles.
You can see how the planet orbits in the video below.
Just for fun—imagine hopping aboard the Millennium Falcon and blasting off at lightspeed. If you traveled one light-year per day, you’d reach this planet in about four months, as long as you don’t stop to refuel or wrestle a krayt dragon along the way. In case you’re trying to do the math, one light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. But if you’re relying on real-world space travel? Let’s just say… you’ll need a few million years and the galaxy’s longest playlist to keep you sane.
The discovery came thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. Scientists first noticed strange movements in the brown dwarfs—something was tugging on them. Turns out, that “something” was a planet, and its unusual orbit confirmed it was something truly special.
This discovery not only expands our understanding of planetary formation but also brings to mind the iconic image of Tatooine from Star Wars, a planet with twin suns. As study co-author Amaury Triaud noted, “It shows us that what seems like science fiction is sometimes just science waiting to be discovered.”