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Tatooine-like Planet Discovered

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the mos-eisley-not-included dept.

ATP writes "CNN is reporting that a planet has been discovered in a solar system with 3 suns. The observation brings into doubt the theory stating that planets form from the dust orbiting around a single sun. The discovery also resulted in a new method of searching for extrasolar planets-- until now most searching focused only on single-sun systems."

9 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. First Post Mind Trick by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Funny
    This is not the planet you're looking for.

    This is not the planet we're looking for.

    Move along.

    Move along.

    --
    Start a happiness pandemic
  2. More changes for next release of star wars... by FrontalLobe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't let George Lucas see this. He'll want to change the next release of episode 4 and have Luke looking over 3 suns setting.

    "Really, I had always wanted it to be 3 suns, and now we have the technology to produce my original vision"

    --
    -FL
    1. Re:More changes for next release of star wars... by vought · · Score: 5, Funny
      As depressing as it is, I remember reading the Empire Strikes Back Trivia Guide, and the suns were Tatoo I and Tatoo II.


      I could have sworn that the third one was called Hervé.

  3. Not really Tatooine-like... by Owndapan · · Score: 5, Informative

    As noted by The Register, the planet is not in a galaxy far, far away, but a mere 149 light-year jaunt through our own Milky Way.

    1. Re:Not really Tatooine-like... by metlin · · Score: 5, Funny


      Dude, I've trouble getting to the bathroom which at this moment seems far, far away.

      I'd say a 149 kajillion light years is definitely far, far away.

  4. Pitch Black by mesach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Might it be more like the planet in Pitch Black instead of Tattoine?

    --
    moo.
  5. Does it also contain.... by ribo-bailey · · Score: 5, Funny

    THE SPICE!!!???

  6. False Advertising by aykroyd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Tatooine-like Planet Discovered," I read. Eagerly, I clicked the link. "They've found a way to tell just what the planet is like! Now that is news!"

    Oh, but wait... It's actually a story about a planet that was discovered in a solar system with three stars. What in the hell does that have to do with making the planet "Tatooine-like"? That's like calling every other planet in our system "Earth-like".

    *sigh*

  7. Re:Uhh... by syntaxglitch · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, it is somewhat surprising that a multi-star system would have a significant planet-forming debris cloud. Orbital mechanics tend to be relatively unstable in multi-star systems, so it's considerably more likely that the dust and debris would end up in unstable orbits and fall into one of the stars, instead of clumping up into a planet with a stable orbit. The fact that a planet can actually have a stable orbit in a system with three stars is actually somewhat surprising to me.

    As for the system being thrown together after forming seperately, that's highly unlikely. First of all, space is mostly... well, space. The chances against two star systems colliding at all, nevermind doing so in a way that forms a stable three-star system are, no pun intended, astronomical. Even if a stable three-star configuration formed, it's even more likely that the sudden change in orbital dynamics would promptly eject the planet from the system (not hard to do--actually, if memory serves me, Mercury is in the process of being very slowly ejected from our own solar system. The sun will probably die first, though).

    So, yes, lots of things could have happened... most of them probably even more fantastically implausible than the system forming as-is.