When Tatooine was depicted on film, many scientists doubted that such planets could really exist. Now there’s proof.

“It’s possible that there’s a real Tatooine out there,” said John Knoll, visual effects supervisor at the special-effects firm Industrial Light and Magic, which was behind the “Star Wars” films. “Kepler 16b is unambiguous and dramatic proof that planets really do form around binaries.”

The new discovery is expanding the bounds of what scientists, as well as filmakers, can conceive, he said.

“Again and again we see that the science is stranger and cooler than fiction,” Knoll said during a NASA press conference today. “The very existence of these discoveries gives us cause to dream bigger, to question our assumptions.”

Via Space.com