Astronomers discover images of rare Tatooine-like exoplanet with a strange 300-year orbit: 'Exactly how it works is still uncertain'

An illustration of the Tatooine-like planet HD 143811 AB b as it orbits its twin parent stars.

Astronomers have discovered a planet beyond the solar system that orbits its twin parent stars closer than any ever seen before in a binary. The twin stars in the sky over the newly-found extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," likely bear a resemblance to the twin stars over Tatooine, the home planet of Luke Skywalker, when viewers first meet the young hero at the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope.

This exoplanet is six times closer to its parent stars than any previously directly imaged binary system exoplanet, yet despite this relative proximity, it still has a year that lasts 300 times as long as an Earth year.