Planets With Two Suns Are Almost Impossible To Find — General Relativity May Be Why

Planets With Two Suns Are Almost Impossible To Find — General Relativity May Be Why

Learn why only 14 out of over 6,000 exoplanets orbit two stars, and how Einstein’s general theory of relativity may be to blame.

Why planets with two suns almost never survive

Planets with two suns, like the famous desert world Tatooine from Star Wars, capture our imagination. Yet in real life, these so-called circumbinary planets—planets that orbit two stars at once—are surprisingly rare. Astronomers have now uncovered a compelling explanation, and it turns out that Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity plays a central role. Over […] The post Why planets with two suns almost never survive appeared first on K…

Why are Tatooine planets rare? General relativity explains why binary star systems rarely host planets