So sang Roger Waters on the Pink Floyd album The Final Cut. It was an image evoking the detonation of a nuclear bomb seen on the horizon as the sun sets — both signaling an end.
Then George Lucas gave us Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s desert planet.
Seeing that image in Star Wars, many scoffed and said it was impossible to have a planet orbiting two suns. How often have you heard that kind of nit-pickery in the aftermath of a science fiction film viewing?
Now there’s this, an artist’s impression of Kepler-16(AB)-b:
Yes, astronomers have discovered a binary system with an orbiting planet — Kepler-16(AB)-b or “Tatooine” as it is being dubbed.
So much for the nit-pickers.
- Written by Robert Hood
