Tatooine’s Double-Sunset a Common Sight

Thirty years ago, Luke Skywalker beheld something that scientists are just now realizing is likely quite common in the universe: double sunsets. Astronomers have long known that binary star systems are common. And models suggested that planets could form in these systems, even though there’s a double-tug of gravity on the material that would have to form a planet. Observations from NASA’s Spitzer telescope, show that binary systems are just as likely to be surrounded by planet-forming debris disks are are lone stars