NASA Plans To Search For 'Star Wars’ Planets To Search For Alien Life

The "Star Wars" saga is full of science fiction worlds from the ice planet of Hoth to the deserts of Jakku. These planets could now be a reality, thanks to NASA's new plan -- to search for exoplanets and possible alien life.

NASA scientists claim that the planets discovered around stars in the galaxy could be very similar to those planets depicted in "Star Wars," a famous science fiction movie for decades. From an analysis and evaluation of 3,400 confirmed alien worlds, the scientists applied innovative and modern computer modeling techniques to simulate the conditions like colors, light, sunrise and sunsets people might encounter if they could visit these planets.

Luke Skywalker's Tatooine

For instance, one real planet in the galaxy reminded scientists about Luke Skywalker's home planet, "Tatooine." They named it after the planet but it is officially called Keplet-16b, a Saturn-sized exoplanet about 200 lightyears away in the constellation Cygnus. It also has two suns.

"This was the first honest-to-goodness real planetary system where you would see the double sunset as two suns," Laurance Doyle, an astrophysicist who discovered the planet using NASA's Kepler space telescope, said as reported by Phys.org.

It might be weird, but if people lived on this planet, there would be two rainbows in a storm, and each sunset would be unique since the stars are always changing their configuration. On the other hand, while Kepler-16b or "Tatooine" could be too cold to support life, there could be other planets with two suns for life to exist.

Desert Worlds

Desert planets like Jakku and Jedha are also possible in the solar system on Mars. However, there could be more desert planets in the galaxy that could be even more habitable than the Red Planet.

"The recurring theme of desert worlds in 'Star Wars' is really interesting, because there is some research that shows that these would be likely habitable worlds to find," Domagal-Goldman, a climate scientist, said.

Ice Planets

In 2006, an icy planet was discovered by scientists and named, referred to as Hoth. Scientifically named OGLE 2005-BLG-390L, it is too cold to support life. But life may also evolve under the ice of a different world. NASA is on the journey of designing "Europa" -- a mission to search for life under the crust of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.

Ocean Planets

People all know once an ocean planet that could harbor life -- Earth. Though the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered some Earth-sized planets that orbit their stars at the exact distance to sustain liquid water, there are still numerous follow-up operations to look for exoplanets that could support life, Blasting News reports.