Rogue planets may originate from 'twisted Tatooine' double star systems

Two disks with bright centers are perpendicular to one another in the center of the image. A rogue planet appears to be zooming away from that scene, leaving behind a hazy trail.

Star Wars fans will definitely get a kick out of binary star systems nicknamed "Tatooine" systems — a reference to the planet Luke Skywalker stands on to gaze up at twin suns in Star Wars: A New Hope. As it turns out, some of the planets in the real-life versions of these systems may have been getting a much more literal kick out of them, too.

New research suggests "rogue planets" that wander the Milky Way — aka, planets that are isolated from parent stars and live as cosmic orphans — may be getting kicked out of double, or binary, star systems. But there's a twist (literally)!