[Shaun]

A planet orbiting two suns - the first confirmed alien world of its kind - has been found by Nasa's Kepler telescope, the US space agency announced.

It may resemble the planet Tatooine from the film Star Wars, but scientists say Luke Skywalker, or anyone at all, is unlikely to be living there.

Named Kepler-16b, it is thought to be an uninhabitable cold gas giant, like Saturn.

The newly detected body lies some 200 light years from Earth.

Though there have been hints in the past that planets circling double stars might exist, scientists say this is the first confirmation.

It means when the day ends on Kepler-16b, there is a double sunset, they say.

Kepler-16b's two suns are smaller than ours - at 69% and 20% of the mass of our sun - making the surface temperature an estimated -100 to -150F (-73 to -101C).

The planet orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65m miles (104m km) - about the same solar orbit as Venus.

The Kepler telescope, launched in 2009, is designed to scour our section of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-like planets.

"This is really a stunning measurement by Kepler," said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science, a co-author of the study.

"The real exciting thing is there's a planet sitting out there orbiting around these two stars."

Kepler finds stars whose light is regularly dimmed, which means there is an orbited planet between the star and the telescope.

Nasa's scientists saw additional dips in the light in both stars at alternating but regular times, confirming the dual orbit of the planet.

The finding was reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

-thinks this is kinda cool-

[CharlieO]

I think its cool too.

[Benjamin]

I'm such a geek. I love things like this.

[Locke.]

Looks like someone is playing a game of marbles

[Saph]

I hope the aliens are cute

[Ninastar]

i got kinda excited by this, im such a geek

[Shaun]

it's not geeky to get excited by planets... it's much more inspiring than getting excited by, say, I dunno, a "cool" thing like celebrity gossip or how much you can drink.

[Tom]

I don't see how they can say chances of life are slim without actually going there. I also never understand how they can say life can't live without water on other planets. Other life forms would just find a different way to adapt/survive?

[fruit_cake]

interesting

[Glenn.]

Life on Earth evolved in hostile environments so I think its quite plausible to say that some form of life may actually evolve on other planets. Just because the human race couldn't live on a planet of gas doesn't mean that something else couldn't.

[Beastie]

I bet it's hot hot hot on that planet. They must get a lot of daylight!

[Glenn.]

And two sunsets. How amazing would that be

[Niall]

Originally Posted by ukturtle

I'm such a geek. I love things like this.

[2]

[LaLaLand]

^ [3]

[Jordan.]

Originally Posted by SaphLiike

I hope the aliens are cute

[Jords]

Wow

There are more suns?

[Joelle.]

Anything to do with Physics I love

[Doogle]

How could anyone not be interested by this?!

And I hate science with a passion, but I admit this is fascinating.

[Ninastar]

I find this one of the most interesting points in science, but we never really learned about it I was always the best as well /arrogant

[billy123]

That is so cool i love things like this.

i made a video about 5 years ago showing how insignificant the earth really is in the scheme of things the original video was up to about 80,000 hits before youtube banned my old account the swines.

Youtube video

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Beastie

I bet it's hot hot hot on that planet. They must get a lot of daylight!

No. It's a cold gas giant.

For those of you discussing the possibility of any life forms on this planet, it's extremely unlikely. Gas giants have pretty much been ruled out for being capable of supporting any form of life.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Jords

Wow

There are more suns?

suns are stars, so many more

[Smithy]

so does it orbit them like a figure of 8 or something?

Im confused as to how it works

[Smithy]

so does it orbit them like a figure of 8 or something?

Im confused as to how it works

[Stu]

Someone needs to dig up that .gif that shows our local solar system then zooms out and out and out and out and out.

It's absoloutely mind blowing.