triple sun

Perched on the tip of Orion’s nose, there spins a solar system that could give Tatooine — Luke Skywalker’s twin-sunned homeworld — a run for its money. Known as GW Orionis (or GW Ori) and located about 1,300 light-years from Earth, the system is a rare example of a triple-star solar system, with two suns orbiting one another at the center, and a third star swirling around its siblings from several hundred million miles away. Scientists previously identified the system by its three bright rings of planet-forming dust, nested inside one another like a massive orange bullseye in the sky. … Read more