One of my recent blogs crushed the dreams of many Star Wars fans by debunking the close proximity of asteroids within an asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back. That is why, in the spirit of Star Wars Day, I will be sharing an aspect of the films that Star Wars ended up getting correct: binary star systems. Although Star Wars came out in 1977, a circumbinary planet was not actually discovered until 2005. Since then, multiple circumbinary planets have been discovered by the Kepler telescope including Kepler-34, -35, -38, -64 and -413 which all reside in their respective system’s habitable zone. Thus, liquid water could be found there and it could be accompanied by life. Researcher Nikolaos Georgakarakos has stated that Kepler-38 may be the best candidate and could even be key in the search for another planet that can sustain human life So far, the planets being found are much larger than Earth and more closely resemble our solar system’s giants in size. However, it is likely that this is due to the increased difficulty in finding smaller extrasolar planets. In addition, it may be more difficult to detect extrasolar planets in binary systems and there may simply be fewer planets in binary systems. There are current estimates that over half of all solar systems have binary stars.
Could George Lucas have predicted our next home? How would you like to live on Tatooine? With the infinite universe around us, do you think it is a question of if life exists in a binary star system or when we will find it?
Brandon's Cosmic Perspective 
I think it’s really interesting that Star Wars showed a circumbinary planet before they were discovered. I’m wondering if someone just liked how the the stars looked in the sky or if they actually hypothesized it was a possibility and included it in the movie.
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I agree! The possibilities of life on other planets and in other galaxies appear endless, something we will never know for sure until we develop the tools needed to detect it.
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One thing that we must also consider is the relative mass between the binaries of a system. Is one system bigger than the other such that the excess gravity can shred the smallest one? If so, it would be an unstable system capable of emitting strong radiation and inoculating any orbiting world? These are all questions where someone like you may find the answer!
Great post!
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