NASA Is On Search As They Believe That The Planets in 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Exist [Report]
During the past decade, there have been thousands of exoplanets discovered outside the solar system. Some that are included may resemble the icy planet of Hoth, and desert covered surfaces of Jakku and Tatooine that are seen in the fictional universe of "Star Wars."
According to the report of Space, on September 2011, using NASA's Kepler space telescope, astronomers have discovered a Saturn-size planet and called it Kepler-16b, which is 200 light-years away from Earth and orbits two suns - just like Tatooine, Luke Skywalker's home planet. Astronomers nicknamed the exoplanet "Tatooine" due to its striking likeness.
Jakku, a desert world and Rey's home planet in the movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also exist within our own solar system. We call it Mars, a cold and dry planet that is currently eyed by scientists to potentially support life.
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said that the recurring theme of desert worlds in "Star Wars" was really interesting because there was several types of research that show these would possibly be habitable worlds. He also said that the lack of water on a desert planet might be what it takes to make it more habitable. This is due to water amplifies changes to climates and can cause planets to end up like Venus- a very hot planet, or it may end up really cold like Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.
Speaking of Europa, it closely resembles the snow-covered planet of Hoth. It was where the Rebel Alliance's Echo Base was set in "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back." Beyond Europa's frozen surface, there lies a vast ocean of liquid water that could possibly provide life. NASA has been planning an expedition to Europa to gather samples and to possibly discover extraterrestrial life.
But still, the most important ingredient in sustaining the life is water. Scientists are yet to confirm that planets like Kamino from "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of The Clones" and Scarif from this year's "Rogue One" does exist in our universe. NASA officials said that discovering such aquatic worlds may be possible in the not-so-distant future, explaining that ocean glint - or bright light reflecting off a planet's watery surface - can be detected from afar.
NASA said in a statement, that in George Lucas' "Star Wars" universe, he and the company visualized worlds buzzing with intelligent beings. But with today's technology, and as of now, scientist only knows of one such world, the planet Earth. Though in the next few years, humanity will see the launch of new generation of spacecraft to look for planets around other stars, Nasa has reported.
Doug Hudgins, NASA's program scientist for exoplanet exploration said that the idea of life on other planets resonates with people on a very personal level. They [the 'Star Wars' films] illustrate this image of a universe teeming with life.
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