Is Tatooine the norm? Planets may prefer living with two suns instead of one

Planets may form more easily around pairs of stars than around single stars like the sun, according to new research. Binary star systems , in which two stars orbit each other, are common throughout the Milky Way — and, in fact, even our sun may not have always been alone . For decades, astronomers believed such multi-star systems were hostile environments for planet formation, with competing gravitational forces stirring up surrounding material and preventing planets from taking shape. The new study, however, suggests that while the inner regions of these systems are indeed too chaotic for planets to form, their outer reaches may actually produce planets more efficiently than single-star systems do. "Close to a binary star it's simply too violent for planets to form," study lead author Matthew Teasdale of the University of Lancashire said in a statement . "But move farther out and the disk becomes an ideal environment for planet formation." Using computer simulations, Teasdale and his team modeled the swirling disks of gas and dust that surround young binary stars — the birthplaces of planets — called protoplanetary disks . These simulations revealed that regions close to the two stars form a "forbidden zone," where intense gravitational forces create a turbulent environment too unstable for planets to emerge. …