This illustrates a system in which a planet (foreground) orbits both stars in a binary. Such circumbinary planets are rare, although astronomers recently discovered another one, in the system Bebop-3. Such systems also are known as Tatooines after Luke Skywalker’s iconic home world in Star Wars. [NASA/JPL/Caltech/T. Pyle]
Find out more in our radio program entitled Circumbinary Planets.