What kind of Solar System is that where you have two suns providing sunlight like Tatooine in Star Wars?

Question

Remember in The Stars wars movies whenever you see them walking around in the desert there's always 2 suns instead of just one. Are there any Stars like this in our Universe?

Answer 1

As other answers here state, this is called a binary star system, and it seems more difficult under current theories of planet formation for such a system to have planets. These stars do not collide with each other, though, because they actually orbit each other.

Planets have been discovered in binary star systems already. Gamma Cephei is such a system. I like this star because it is visible to the naked eye, and I know how to find it in the sky. I like to look at it and know that there are definitely planet(s) there.

Interestingly enough, a 'Tatooine' could be in the nearest-known star system to our own: Alpha Centauri. This nearby star system is only about 4.5 light years away, and is a binary star. (There is a third, very faint star in the system called Proxima Centauri which is actually closer to the Earth than Alpha Centauri, but it is not known for certain whether it is part of the system, or just passing by). Both stars are VERY similar to our Sun, and orbit each other far enough apart that each could have a habitable rocky planet orbiting it, although no planets (rocky or otherwise) have been discovered there so far.

The stars of the Alpha Centauri system also satisfy more requirements for potential habitable planets. They burn stably, so that stable conditions can exist on planets orbiting them. They are old enough for life to have possibly formed. The only main problem is that it is thought that the complex orbits of planets beyond the habitable zones of the two stars would keep there from being any shepherding gas giants (like Jupiter is for us) from clearing out debris, and directing objects like comets inward to deliver water to the rocky inner worlds. It has been theorized that the stars themselves could act in this role, however.

This system is a primary target for future space telescopes designed to search for terrestrial worlds outside of our solar system. Wouldn't it be great if the closest star were found to have a habitable world?

Answer 2

Binary stars are common.

However, modeling an earth-like planet for two stars is problematic, since the heat/light/radiation from the pair is apt to vary more widely than the conditions for earth-type life to evolve and survive. That is not to say that other forms of life might not arise.

Answer 3

They're called binary star systems, and in fact they're more common than single star systems. However, stable planetary orbits about binary star systems can be hard to develop. Not impossible, but they can make for very interesting orbit paths.

Answer 4

I concure with everyone eles, binary sun, actually on the sound track the music plade at that sceen is called "Binary sunset"

Answer 5

It's called a binary star and yes they are some in our galaxy.

ex. Algol:
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/binaries/algol.html

Sirius:

http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm?http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/stars/sirius.html

Answer 6

yes but the suns come together because the force betwwen them fights untill one wins. then they collide.