Credit: Ben Bromley, University of Utah
University of Utah astrophysicist Ben Bromley used acrylics to paint this depiction of a double sunset from an inhabited Earthlike planet orbiting a pair of binary stars. To date, only gas giant planets like Saturn have been found orbiting binaries. But in a new study, Bromley and Scott Kenyon of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory performed mathematical analysis and simulations showing that, contrary to scientific doubts, it is possible for a rocky planet to form around binary stars, like Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine in the “Star Wars” films.