Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday.

Located about 120 light years away, the exoplanet appears to take an unusual path around two brown dwarfs, whipping around at a right angle. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars because they’re lighter than stars, but heavier than gas giant planets. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles.

The brown dwarf pair was first spotted years ago. Scientists noticed that the twins eclipse each other so one is always partly blocked when seen from Earth.

In a new analysis, researchers found that the brown dwarfs’ motion was changing — a quirk that’s less likely to happen if they circled each other on their own. The research was published in the journal Science Advances.

Scientists know of over a dozen planets that orbit two stars like the fictional “Star Wars” scorching desert planet Tatooine with double sunsets that Luke Skywalker calls home.

The new planet’s odd orbit sets it apart. But it hasn’t been directly spied, and scientists say more research is needed to be sure it’s out there and figure out its mass and orbit.

“I wouldn’t bet my life that the planet exists yet,” said Simon Albrecht, an astrophysicist with Aarhus University who had no role in the new study.

Probing these wacky celestial bodies can help us understand how conditions beyond our solar system may yield planets vastly different from our own, said study author Thomas Baycroft with the University of Birmingham.

Planets circling twin stars “existed in sci-fi for decades before we knew that they could even really exist in reality,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.