Planets of Star Wars

The first and original Star Wars movie that aired in 1977, introduced a slew of planets to fans of science fiction.

The list included: Alderaan, Corellia, Dantooine, Kessel, Tatooine, Yavin, and Yavin 4.

The home world of Princess Leia Organa, the description of Alderaan would indicate it to be quite similar to Earth. Early in the movie it is summarily destroyed by the Empire’s Death Star, reduced to rubble and asteroids.

Tatooine, a desert planet, is featured prominently in the movie as the home of Luke Skywalker, his father Anakin Skywalker — who would become Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi.

Though not seen in the original Star Wars Corellia was the home world of Han Solo. It was reported as an industrial planet and providing training for pilots.

Dantooine is mentioned in the original movie but never seen. It was said the Rebel Alliance was organized on the planet. It was to be the first test of the Death Star’s major weapon, but Alderaan was chosen instead.

Kessel is another planet mentioned in the original movie but never seen. It is described as a mining planet for Spice and later as a source for material that can be refined into fuel.

Yavin is a gas planet with several moons, one of which becomes important.

Yavin 4, is a moon that orbits Yavin, it is covered in forests and serves as a base for the Rebel Alliance.

All of the planets mentioned above and in the original Star Wars movie were creations of the writers. To date, there are no actual planets that carry these names.

Keep your eyes on the sky for passing fireballs.

Meteors can flash across the sky anytime, day or night, with extraordinarily bright meteors referred to as fireballs — and they are spotted quite often.

On Tuesday, May 19, 67 people across Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reported seeing a fireball.

The fireball was first reported at 7:45 pm by a skywatcher near Albany, NY. The fireball was seen as far north as Greenville, NY, as far east as near Greenwich, CT, as far south as Fenwick Island, DE, and as far west as Old Forge, PA. The fireball appeared to travel from northwest to southeast.

Two skywatchers reported hearing noise attributable to the fireball and five witnessed it fragment into smaller pieces.

Anyone seeing a fireball is urged to report the sighting to https://amsmeteors.org

Going outside and looking at the night sky can be fun and educational for the entire family.

There are a number of free apps available to help identify stars and constellations, and some of the apps will show satellites.

Happy skywatching!