Astronomers at the University of New South Wales have found 27 new possible planets that move around two stars at the same time. They used data from NASA’s TESS telescope to find these planets in star systems between 650 and 18,000 light-years from Earth. This work could double the number of known planets that go around double-star systems.

Finding such planets is important because they are usually difficult to discover. Before this, only about 18 planets like these were confirmed, while thousands around single stars are known. The discovery uses a special method to notice small changes in the stars’ movement.

The possible planets are different in size and mass. Scientists say these worlds must be studied more before they can be confirmed. If more are found in other systems, it could mean planets in double-star systems are more common than people thought.