| Distance from middle | 43,000 light years[1] |
|---|---|
| Region | Outer Rim Territories |
| Oversector | Oversector Outer |
| Sector | Arkanis Sector |
| System | Tatoo |
| Number of suns | 2 |
| Number of moons | 3 |
| Population | 200,000[1] |
| Species | Assorted (primarily Humans, Jawas, and Tusken Raiders) |
| Points of Interest | Anchorhead, Mos Eisley, Mos Espa |
| Surface water | 1% |
| Affiliation | Hutt, Galactic Empire, New Republic |
Tatooine ( /ˌtætuːˈiːn/) is a fictional planet and setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, appearing in every Star Wars film except The Empire Strikes Back, although it is mentioned at the end of the movie. Since it is the home planet of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, it easily became one of the most iconic planets in the Star Wars universe.
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Tatooine is a desert planet in a binary star system. It once had large oceans full of marine based life and a world-spanning jungle, but this biosphere was destroyed when the myopic Rakata razed the planet, drying up its riverbeds and boiling away its oceans.
Tatooine's G-type and K-type twin stars (Tatoo I and Tatoo II) heat its surface, making water and shade hard to come by. The planet's indigenous lifeforms—such as the Womp rat, bantha, Sarlacc, and Krayt Dragon—are well-adapted to its arid climate, but human settlers often become moisture farmers and live in subterranean dwellings in order to survive. The planet's lack of resources, brutal heat, and decentralized population have made governing the planet nearly impossible.
The planet fell into the clutches of the Hutts, a clan of vile gangsters. Since Tatooine was beyond the reach of the Galactic Republic, the Hutts presided over the lawless planet with little outside interference. When the Galactic Empire subsumed the Old Republic, the new regime established only a token presence on Tatooine, which left Jabba the Hutt’s reign unchallenged. Jabba remained the assumed ruler of Tatooine until his death in the Battle of Carkoon.
Anchorhead is a settlement located a few miles east of the Lars family home, south of the bustling spaceport of Mos Eisley, and primarily consists of moisture farmers.
Bestine, the "capital" of Tatooine, is situated far west of Mos Eisley near the south-western Dune Sea. It was also one of the earliest settlements on the planet but never thrived economically, sharing the same problems as many other settlements on the dry world. The Galactic Empire eventually established its base of operations here and placed its regional governor in the city's Main Hall. It is featured prominently in Star Wars: Galaxies.
The Dune Sea is a huge sandy desert, near the cities of Anchorhead, Mos Eisley and Tosche Station. It is inhabited solely by Tusken Raiders, Jawas, wraids, dewbacks and the occasional Krayt dragon. Moisture farmers often have many moisture vaporators located in the Dune Sea to collect the scarce water vapor from the air.
The Great Pit of Carkoon is located within the Dune Sea. It is a large depression in the desert sand created by the Sarlacc, a large omnivorous creature that uses the pit to capture prey. The Great Pit of Carkoon is the site of a skirmish that takes place between Luke Skywalker and the forces of Jabba the Hutt. The Hutt crime lord and most of his minions were killed during the battle.
Jabba's Palace, is located in the desert known as the Dune Sea and was home to the gangster Jabba the Hutt. It is introduced as the main setting of the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Jabba's palace is also the main setting in Tales From Jabba's Palace edited by Kevin J. Anderson, as well as a playable area in the video games Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Battlefront II. The palace was originally a monastery built by the mysterious B'omarr monks, who still inhabit parts of the palace.
The Jundland Wastes occupy most of Tatooine's temperate area, a rocky region known for its numerous cliffs and a multitude of hidden dangers. Obi-Wan Kenobi lived in a small dwelling on the edge of the Jundland Wastes after he took the infant Luke Skywalker to live on a moisture farm with relatives to hide the boy from Darth Vader. This area is also a level in the video games LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.
Moisture farms are small agricultural settlements found in the deserts of Tatooine that utilize a large amount of moisture collecting devices spread over a wide area to harvest water from the relatively dry air of the planet. Luke Skywalker spent his early years living with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on a moisture farm. Moisture farmers harvest water vapour from the atmosphere, and use it to grow crops in underground hydroponic labs.
Mos Eisley is a spaceport town. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi described Mos Eisley as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." It is also the home of the Mos Eisley Cantina and Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.
The Mos Eisley Cantina, officially named Chalmun's Cantina, is a bar located in Mos Eisley. It is the haunt of freighter pilots and other dangerous characters of varying races.
It is featured in LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.
Mos Espa is a city known for its distinct "desert-proof" domed buildings. It is home to a podracing track and was the home of Anakin and Shmi Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. There was a large slave quarter within the rugged city.
The Tosche Station, or Tosche Power Station, is a general store found in the city of Anchorhead. It sells a variety of goods such as power converters. Tosche Station serves as the central location in the Anchorhead Story of Star Wars, a series of scenes that were deleted from Episode IV. It is described as a frequent hangout for Anchorhead's youth due to the fact that its owner, Merle Tosche, is seldom around. In his absence, "Fixer" runs the business, accompanied by his girlfriend Camie, and assisted by a repair droid.
The planet is not actually named in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope; according to Lucas he intended to name it Utapau but finally he named it retrospectively after a nearby town to the movie's desert location, Tataouine (French spelling) or Tataween spelling in southern Tunisia. Utapau however was given to a different planet, in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.[3] Filming was not done in the Tunisian town of Tatouine itself, but instead at Tunisian locations such as Matmâta, Djerba, and Tozeur.
The name "Tatouine" comes from the Berber word "Titawin" which means "sources". The city of Tetouan in northern Morocco has the same root.
The California Institute of Technology reported on July 13, 2005 that Maciej Konacki, a senior postdoctoral scholar in planetary science, discovered a planet orbiting a triple-star system known as HD 188753 in the constellation Cygnus about 149 light-years from Earth. It is the first planet to be discovered orbiting a multi-star system, and Konacki refers to planets of this type as "Tatooine planets" after Luke Skywalker's home world.[4]
More recently, the South African Astronomical Observatory reported on June 14, 2011 that Drs. Stephen Potter and Encarni Romero-Colmenero and collaborators have found evidence for the existence of an extraordinary planetary system where two giant planets are orbiting a close pair of "suns" (known as UZ For) similar to the binary star system of Tatooine.[5]
Planet Kepler-16b orbits two stars in a system about 200 light-years away, in the constellation Cygnus. Kepler-16b circles the two stars at a distance of 65 million miles, while the stars themselves circle each other more closely. Some astronomers refer to Kepler-16b informally as Tatooine, which also has two suns.[6]
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