In a discovery that feels straight out of Star Wars, astronomers using NASA ’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have identified three Earth-sized planets orbiting a pair of stars some 190 light-years from Earth. The system, named TOI-2267, offers the kind of celestial spectacle Luke Skywalker once gazed at in A New Hope, twin stars setting together on the horizon, except this time, it’s real. What makes the finding even more extraordinary is that it challenges long-standing scientific theories about how planets form in binary systems once thought too chaotic to host such worlds.
A celestial arrangement once thought impossible
Astronomers had long assumed that binary star systems , in which two stars orbit each other, were inhospitable to complex planetary arrangements. The gravitational tug-of-war between two suns was believed to prevent planets from forming stable orbits. Yet, TOI-2267 has proven otherwise.
Located about 190 light-years away, TOI-2267 is what scientists call a “compact binary”, meaning its two stars orbit each other in close proximity. This closeness typically creates gravitational instability , an environment that existing planetary formation models suggested should be unsuitable for planet formation. Against all odds, however, three planets have managed not only to form but to settle into stable orbits around these twin stars.
“This makes TOI-2267 the first binary system known to host transiting planets around both of its stars,” said Sebastián Zúñiga-Fernánde, a member of the study team and a researcher at the University of Liège (ULiège). “Our analysis shows a unique planetary arrangement: two planets are transiting one star, and the third is transiting its companion star.”
The team’s findings were published on Friday, October 24, in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, marking a milestone in exoplanet research.
Breaking records and challenging models
The discovery shatters several records in exoplanet research. “Our discovery breaks several records, as it is the most compact and coldest pair of stars with planets known, and it is also the first in which planets have been recorded transiting around both components,” said Francisco J. Pozuelos, study co-leader and researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC).
Pozuelos and his colleagues first detected hints of these planets through data from TESS, using a detection program aptly named SHERLOCK. Once the preliminary signs of exoplanets appeared, the team turned to several other observatories for confirmation and deeper study. Among them were SPECULOOS, a network of robotic telescopes that includes the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory at Paranal in Chile and the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory at Teide in Tenerife, as well as TRAPPIST — the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope array in Belgium.
These observatories specialize in detecting small exoplanets orbiting cool, dim stars, making them essential to confirming the TOI-2267 system’s unusual planetary structure. The findings upend the idea that close-orbiting binaries cannot host stable planets and open new questions about how these worlds manage to exist and persist under such gravitational conditions.
A real-life Tatooine and a new frontier in exoplanet science
The binary nature of TOI-2267 also offers an enchanting visual parallel to science fiction. Like Tatooine, the desert planet of Star Wars fame known for its double sunsets, TOI-2267’s planets would experience twin starsets in their skies. One of the exoplanets orbiting the two “failed stars,” located about 120 light-years away, is even reminiscent of that iconic imagery.
Exoplanets themselves are worlds that orbit stars beyond our Sun. The term derives from “extrasolar planet,” referring to objects outside the influence of our solar system. Before the 1990s, such worlds were purely theoretical. But over the past three decades, astronomical advances have changed that completely. By 2023, NASA’s official exoplanet catalog had surpassed 5,500 confirmed exoplanets, with nearly 10,000 additional candidates still awaiting verification.
Many of these lie within what astronomers call the “habitable zone,” the sweet spot around a star where conditions are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, and potentially, life as we know it. Discoveries like TOI-2267 expand not just our knowledge of where planets can form but also how diverse their environments can be.
Astronomers have also long recognized that the process of star formation is not always straightforward. Not every protostellar core becomes hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion and achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, the balance that defines a true star. Those that fail to reach this stage are considered “failed stars,” often known as brown dwarfs. These objects, which never sustain stable nuclear fusion, highlight just how diverse and unpredictable celestial evolution can be, and how systems like TOI-2267 might blur the boundaries between stars and planets even further.
Redefining the rules of planet formation
The discovery of the TOI-2267 planets doesn’t just rewrite the record books; it redefines the boundaries of possibility in planetary science. It challenges the assumption that binary systems are too turbulent for stable planetary orbits and demonstrates that even in seemingly hostile environments, worlds can emerge and endure.
With three Earth-sized planets orbiting twin suns, TOI-2267 represents a remarkable glimpse into the complexity — and creativity — of our universe. It’s a reminder that while science can predict much, the cosmos still holds surprises that rival even the most imaginative stories from a galaxy far, far away.
A celestial arrangement once thought impossible
Astronomers had long assumed that binary star systems , in which two stars orbit each other, were inhospitable to complex planetary arrangements. The gravitational tug-of-war between two suns was believed to prevent planets from forming stable orbits. Yet, TOI-2267 has proven otherwise.
Located about 190 light-years away, TOI-2267 is what scientists call a “compact binary”, meaning its two stars orbit each other in close proximity. This closeness typically creates gravitational instability , an environment that existing planetary formation models suggested should be unsuitable for planet formation. Against all odds, however, three planets have managed not only to form but to settle into stable orbits around these twin stars.
“This makes TOI-2267 the first binary system known to host transiting planets around both of its stars,” said Sebastián Zúñiga-Fernánde, a member of the study team and a researcher at the University of Liège (ULiège). “Our analysis shows a unique planetary arrangement: two planets are transiting one star, and the third is transiting its companion star.”
The team’s findings were published on Friday, October 24, in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, marking a milestone in exoplanet research.
Breaking records and challenging models
The discovery shatters several records in exoplanet research. “Our discovery breaks several records, as it is the most compact and coldest pair of stars with planets known, and it is also the first in which planets have been recorded transiting around both components,” said Francisco J. Pozuelos, study co-leader and researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC).
Pozuelos and his colleagues first detected hints of these planets through data from TESS, using a detection program aptly named SHERLOCK. Once the preliminary signs of exoplanets appeared, the team turned to several other observatories for confirmation and deeper study. Among them were SPECULOOS, a network of robotic telescopes that includes the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory at Paranal in Chile and the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory at Teide in Tenerife, as well as TRAPPIST — the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope array in Belgium.
These observatories specialize in detecting small exoplanets orbiting cool, dim stars, making them essential to confirming the TOI-2267 system’s unusual planetary structure. The findings upend the idea that close-orbiting binaries cannot host stable planets and open new questions about how these worlds manage to exist and persist under such gravitational conditions.
A real-life Tatooine and a new frontier in exoplanet science
The binary nature of TOI-2267 also offers an enchanting visual parallel to science fiction. Like Tatooine, the desert planet of Star Wars fame known for its double sunsets, TOI-2267’s planets would experience twin starsets in their skies. One of the exoplanets orbiting the two “failed stars,” located about 120 light-years away, is even reminiscent of that iconic imagery.
Exoplanets themselves are worlds that orbit stars beyond our Sun. The term derives from “extrasolar planet,” referring to objects outside the influence of our solar system. Before the 1990s, such worlds were purely theoretical. But over the past three decades, astronomical advances have changed that completely. By 2023, NASA’s official exoplanet catalog had surpassed 5,500 confirmed exoplanets, with nearly 10,000 additional candidates still awaiting verification.
Many of these lie within what astronomers call the “habitable zone,” the sweet spot around a star where conditions are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, and potentially, life as we know it. Discoveries like TOI-2267 expand not just our knowledge of where planets can form but also how diverse their environments can be.
Astronomers have also long recognized that the process of star formation is not always straightforward. Not every protostellar core becomes hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion and achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, the balance that defines a true star. Those that fail to reach this stage are considered “failed stars,” often known as brown dwarfs. These objects, which never sustain stable nuclear fusion, highlight just how diverse and unpredictable celestial evolution can be, and how systems like TOI-2267 might blur the boundaries between stars and planets even further.
Redefining the rules of planet formation
The discovery of the TOI-2267 planets doesn’t just rewrite the record books; it redefines the boundaries of possibility in planetary science. It challenges the assumption that binary systems are too turbulent for stable planetary orbits and demonstrates that even in seemingly hostile environments, worlds can emerge and endure.
With three Earth-sized planets orbiting twin suns, TOI-2267 represents a remarkable glimpse into the complexity — and creativity — of our universe. It’s a reminder that while science can predict much, the cosmos still holds surprises that rival even the most imaginative stories from a galaxy far, far away.
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