History Main / BinarySuns

* , ''VideoGame/AngryBirdsStarWars'' features Tatooine and its two suns, although it shows them as a big red star and a smaller yellow one.

* Due to its cross-over reference on the famous TropeCodifier, ''VideoGame/AngryBirds Franchise/StarWars'' features Tatooine and its two suns (though it shows them as a big red star and a smaller yellow one.)
* Irdya, the world of ''VideoGame/TheBattleForWesnoth'', originally has only one sun, but another is raised to banish the darkness. [[spoiler: AndManGrewProud and attempted to raise a third sun, transforming the known world into a wasteland when it crashes down.]] Hence, the campaign taking place AfterTheEnd is called "Under the Burning Suns" and the new day/night cycle becomes an important game mechanic.
* There are QUITE a lot of these present in ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous''. Much like the rest of the layout of the galaxy, the setup is extremely realistic; binary (or even trinary) systems can have a ''lot'' of distance between their respective stars, and typically have a whole host of planets, moons, and stations orbiting each one. Unfortunately, this can make traveling through such a system a royal pain in the ass, if the stars are far enough apart.
* In ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'', every system is at least binary system due to the unique gravity interactions needed to make a stable jump gate. The initial gate from Earth was named EVE and was due to the sudden appearance of a wormhole in the solar system.
** However, the developers seem to have forgotten this piece of background, as no system in the EVE cluster actually has more than one star (perhaps the other stars are all brown dwarfs and/or orbit very far from the other star?). However, in wormhole space, binary systems are common (although the second star exists only as a background texture rather than an object you can warp to).

* A binary system features prominently in ''VideoGame/FreeSpace2'', during a mission deep behind enemy lines. The player's commander remarks that he'd like to get out of there ASAP, because "binary systems give me the creeps."
* In ''VideoGame/LittleBigAdventure'' the protagonist's home planet is called Twinsun, because it is situated between two suns.
* When in Dry Dry Desert in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', take a close look at the background during a battle: the Sun is crossing it slowly, but before it goes down on the right, ''another'' one is already rising of the left, meaning two suns can be seen in the sky ''simultaneously''.
* From ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', the Skedar homeworld is part of a trinity star system.
* It's sort of hard to notice, as the smaller, white one is likely to be obscured by the buildings or mountains, but the Lungfishopolis level in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has two suns.

* A little camera trickery in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' reveals this to be the case for Sim Earth. Which may or may not explain a few things.
* Some systems in ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' are Type 1. Habitable planets in such systems are typically farther away from the two suns, especially if one or both are blue stars. Since a planet in such a system would be getting illumination and consequently heating from both stars, and blue stars are the brightest and hottest stars of all, [[ShownTheirWork this makes a lot of sense]].
* ''Starshot: Space Circus Fever'' has Tensuns which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: a planet with ''ten'' suns. Most notably, the game explicitly states those are ''artificial'' suns created to make Tensuns the ideal summer vacation planet where one get a perfect tan around the clock.
* Many systems in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' are Type 1 or 3 binary or trinary systems, and many of them have habitable planets (usually, but not always, orbiting the innermost star). It's even possible to have your species' homeworld in such a system.
* Eleutheria, the dark and lawless region from ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies'', once had [[spoiler:two twin Judgements as its suns before one of them was murdered.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', the aptly-named [[LethalLavaLand Melty Molten Galaxy]] consists of several mostly-lava planetoids that are sandwiched between two ''very close'' stars. Very close, as in probably no more than a couple miles apart.

* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal|I}}'': Na Pali orbits two suns. As a result, the sky sometimes looks similar to Earth's, [[AlienSky while in others it takes alien shades of bluish-purple or gold, and in others all that's lit is nebulas of different colors]]. They even shine (separately) during the night, as seen in "Velora Pass" and beyond.
* While not immediately apparent, the system of Thousand Peaks from ''VideoGame/OpusEchoOfStarsong'' is a binary system. However pretty much all of the asteroids and planets in the system are focused around the rather temperamental star of Ignis. The reason it can be hard to tell that it is a binary system is cause Ignis' partner is Excidium, a black hole, and speculated to be the reason to why the system is so empty past a certain point. [[spoiler:Excidium does have some satellites of it's own however, most notably [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Banshee]] and Phoenix, both on wildy eliptical orbits]].

* ''Quest for the Fallen Star'' has the world in a figure-8 orbit, with another planet called Coldaria orbiting the whole system at a great distance.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]]: The planet known as Desolation has three suns.

** In ''[[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]]'' Annual #9, Bryan and Tristan Mallory's planet has two suns.

* In the Marvel comics, ComicBook/TheTransformers homeworld of [[CityPlanet Cybertron]] is said to have orbited Alpha Centuari before being knocked out of its orbit, placing it in a binary star system, but said stars are never actually seen at once.

* Type I: "Twin Suns" — The suns rise and fall with each other, indicating that the suns orbit each other closely and the planet orbits their shared center of mass. This is called a circumbinary or "P-type" orbit.
* Type II: "Close Stars" — The suns may occupy different parts of the sky, indicating that one sun orbits the other farther out than the planet, but not far enough for the stars to have their own separate habitable zones.
** Subtype II a: "Bright And Dark Seasons" — With low axial tilt or near the equator, at one point both suns will appear close in the sky, and it becomes night when both set. About half a planet year later, usually one sun will be in the sky, and there will hardly be a real night.
** Subtype II b: "Midnight Sun" — With high axial tilt or near the poles, the outer sun may remain [[EndlessDaytime above]]/[[AlwaysNight below]] the horizon for many years.
* Type III: "1 1/2 Suns" — The planet has one "Sun", with night and day according to it, but another star in the same system is identifiable as a small sun that contributes some heat and sometimes leaves night more like twilight. This indicates that the planet orbits a single star in a double-star system, and the stars orbit each other at a large enough distance for one or both to have its/their own separate habitable zone(s). This is by far the most likely arrangement in reality as far as habitable planets go, and many such planets (including [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_b Proxima Centauri b]], the closest known exoplanet to Earth) have already been discovered.

* Type IV: "Between Two Suns" — The planet is positioned at the first Lagrange point in the suns' orbit around eachother (the point in between them where their gravitational pulls cancel eachother out), providing for EndlessDaytime. The reason this wouldn't work is because It's a case of UnstableEquilibrium, and thus the minor gravitational pull from the other bodies in the system (or, barring that, other nearby stars) would nudge the planet enough to eventually pull it out of "orbit".
* Type V: "Figure 8" or similar — The planet orbits one sun, then the other, in a regular way. If the suns of Type I are too far from each other, it may also become this.[[note]]Technically a figure-8 is called a "lemniscate of Bernoulli", and one thing wrong with this scenario is that this is an order-6 curve, not the order-2 curve a real stable orbit would be.[[/note]]

* Type VI: "Chaotic Orbit" — A planet in chaotic orbit might exist, but wouldn't be able to support life. Also, the chaotic orbit would eventually throw the planet into one of the suns, or out of the system.[[note]]''Brief'' figure 8 orbits are possible — the free-return trajectories flown on the Apollo missions were figure 8s — but these are never stable.[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVader''. Dr Aphra says the advantage of living in a multi-sun system is that it makes her "no drinking before noon" rule [[DrowningMySorrows easier to live with]].

* In ''Film/EscapeToWitchMountain'' the telepathic & telekinetic siblings Tia and Tony eventually learn that they are aliens who fled to earth to escape their dying planet, a world which had two suns. Tia's "starcase", which is crucial to the plot, is decorated with an emblem depicting two stars.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/Nightfall1990'': Out of the six suns of Kalgash, both Tano-Sitha and Patru-Trey are described as being binary pairs, meaning they are always in the sky together.
** Dr Asimov later realized such a system is unlikely to be stable, so he wrote "Literature/SuckerBait'' -- only two suns, "but this time, I'm getting it right".

* The eponymous planet of ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'' is orbiting two suns of different colours, hence two different types of day (white and red). The orbit's weird stability is [[GeniusLoci a plot point]] - basically, the alien goo that "inhabits" the place has learned to influence gravity somehow. We never learn just how intelligent - or sentient - it really is, but [[AntiGravity things humans need futuristic tech to achieve]] are a snap of the metaphorical fingers to it.

* ''Literature/TheLostFleet'': Binary stars become a plot point. The [[HyperspaceLanes jump points]] around them are unstable meaning that while you can use a jump drive to leave a binary system it's functionally impossible to use them to reach a binary system. However, it is possible to use sub-light travel to get to a binary system and then build a [[PortalNetwork hypernet gate]] (the second form of FTL travel in the series) in order to allow travel to and from the system. As such, most binary systems aren't inhabited or visited. There is a mention that in the backstory that at least one colony deliberately set off for a binary star system in order to get away from the rest of humanity. In the last book it turns out that [[spoiler:Unity Alternate was setup in a binary star system as a security precaution. It was accessible by hypernet but the coordiantes for reaching that gate with kept secret.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'' series, the Youli homeworld has three suns, although the climate is quite temperate. It's never explained exactly how the orbit works.

** Chiron--also called "Planet"--the planet where humans land, orbits Alpha Centauri A alone. Chiron is in a Type III situation. Alpha Centauri A and B orbit each other in a relatively close and mildly eccentric elliptical orbit, with them coming closest to each other (periastron) at about 11 AU (roughly the distance between the Sun and Saturn) and furthest apart from each other (apastron) at about 35 AU (roughly the distance between the Sun and Pluto); any planet orbiting in Alpha Centauri A's habitable zone would thus receive a non-negligible amount of light and heat from B (and vice-versa). Since the developers [[ShownTheirWork did their homework]], whenever Hercules (Alpha Centauri B) reaches periastron, the native life on Planet experiences tremendous growth. There are also two moons: Nessus and Pholus.

* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'''s Sirius Sector consists of dozens of star systems, many of which are binaries or more. Most of them [[SceneryPorn look drop-dead gorgeous]].

* When in Dry Dry Desert in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', take a close look at the background during a battle: the Sun is crossing it slowly, but before it goes down on the right, ''another'' one is already rising of the left, meaning two suns can be seen in the sky ''simultaneously''.
* Eleutheria, the dark and lawless region from ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies'', once had [[spoiler:two twin Judgements as its suns before one of them was murdered.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal|I}}'': Na Pali orbits two suns. As a result, the sky sometimes looks similar to Earth's, [[AlienSky while in others it takes alien shades of bluish-purple or gold, and in others all that's lit is nebulas of different colors]]. They even shine (separately) during the night, as seen in "Velora Pass" and beyond.

* ''Starshot: Space Circus Fever'' has Tensuns which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: a planet with ''ten'' suns. Most notably, the game explicitly states those are ''artificial'' suns created to make Tensuns the ideal summer vacation planet where one get a perfect tan around the clock.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'': The world the project takes place on, HP-02017, is located in a binary star system with a yellow dwarf called Alpha and a red dwarf called Beta. The planet orbits Alpha while Beta is further out and usually visible as a small red orb in the sky. However, at a certain time of day known as Beta Twilight, Beta is the only sun visible and the land is bathed in a dull red light, animals active at this time often develop red coloration as camouflage.

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E09VisionsAndVoices "Visions and Voices"]]. Kanan, Ezra and Sabine discover that [[spoiler:Obi-Wan Kenobi is still alive and]] living on a planet with twin suns. [[TheSmartGuy Sabine]] points out that that piece of information doesn't narrow the field of possible planets down much, because it turns out that in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' galaxy, as in real life, binary systems are extremely common.

* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "My Three Suns", the gang visits Proxima B, an exoplanet that has three suns.

* ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'': After [[spoiler:Jupiter]] is turned into a sun.

%%* ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'' has the eponymous planet of the kind described by the types IV to VI. The fact that its orbit is unrealistically stable is [[GeniusLoci a plot point]].%%ZCE. Described what "types IV to VI" means.

It is uncertain how likely it is that habitable planets would form in the presence of two suns (for the sake of RuleOfCool, though, it's best [[MST3KMantra not to ask]]). So there is still some ArtisticLicenseAstronomy involved. Also keep in mind that everything would of course have two shadows, though if the suns significantly differ in luminosity then the one shadow will be noticeably darker than the other.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBFG'': Giant Country has two suns, one yellow and one green, requiring it be in another world dimension rather than simply another country.

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''

* The Tau Empire sept world of Vior'la in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' orbits a binary star. Its orbit causes it to pass between the two stars every year, close enough for the planet's surface to be ravaged by intense plasma storms, with the Tau living in specialized Hab-domes during this season. It's also well known for producing some of the toughest and elite members of the Fire Warrior Caste, so it should come as little surprise that the name Vior'la is Tau for "HotBlooded".

* In Metru Nui, of the Toys/{{Bionicle}} franchise, there are two suns. [[spoiler: They're actually the eyes of the robot Mata Nui, and Metru Nui is his brain. The matoran are maintenance systems, comparable in size to cells in the human body. When the suns "go out" is when Makuta put Mata Nui "to sleep".]]

* Irdya, the world of ''Videogame/TheBattleForWesnoth'', originally has only one sun, but another is raised to banish the darkness. [[spoiler: AndManGrewProud and attempted to raise a third sun, transforming the known world into a wasteland when it crashes down.]] Hence, the campaign taking place AfterTheEnd is called "Under the Burning Suns" and the new day/night cycle becomes an important game mechanic.
* There are QUITE a lot of these present in ''Videogame/EliteDangerous''. Much like the rest of the layout of the galaxy, the setup is extremely realistic; binary (or even trinary) systems can have a ''lot'' of distance between their respective stars, and typically have a whole host of planets, moons, and stations orbiting each one. Unfortunately, this can make traveling through such a system a royal pain in the ass, if the stars are far enough apart.

* In ''Videogame/LittleBigAdventure'' the protagonist's home planet is called Twinsun, because it is situated between two suns.
* From ''Videogame/PerfectDark'', the Skedar homeworld is part of a trinity star system.
* It's sort of hard to notice, as the smaller, white one is likely to be obscured by the buildings or mountains, but the Lungfishopolis level in VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}} has two suns.
* ''Videogame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. See RealLife below for a bit of further information.

* A little camera trickery in ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'' reveals this to be the case for Sim Earth. Which may or may not explain a few things.
* Some systems in ''Videogame/{{Spore}}'' are Type 1. Habitable planets in such systems are typically farther away from the two suns, especially if one or both are blue stars. Since a planet in such a system would be getting illumination and consequently heating from both stars, and blue stars are the brightest and hottest stars of all, [[ShownTheirWork this makes a lot of sense]].

* In ''Videogame/{{Super Mario Galaxy}}'', the aptly-named [[LethalLavaLand Melty Molten Galaxy]] consists of several mostly-lava planetoids that are sandwiched between two ''very close'' stars. Very close, as in probably no more than a couple miles apart.

* ''Videogame/{{Unreal|I}}'': Na Pali orbits two suns. As a result, the sky sometimes looks similar to Earth's, [[AlienSky while in others it takes alien shades of bluish-purple or gold, and in others all that's lit is nebulas of different colors]]. They even shine (separately) during the night, as seen in "Velora Pass" and beyond.
* ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'': The Chinese legend of Houyi mentions the Earth once had ''nine'' suns, which threatened to burn the earth until he shot down all but one. In the game's backstory, however, one of them landed on and killed Junko's son, who has now become pure vengeance, killing Houyi and trying to kill his wife Chang'e.

Planets have been found in [[SerialEscalation trinary]] and even [[UpToEleven quaternary]] star systems, but the more stars you add (up to ''[[UpToEleven septenary]]'' systems have been discovered in real life), the harder it becomes to find a stable orbit for the planets to occupy.

* Calvin in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' once imagined Spaceman Spiff landing on a hostile alien planet "scorched by twin suns". He is then attacked by a monster (which turns out to be Calvin's mom).

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBFG'', Giant Country has two suns, one yellow and one green. Meaning that Giant country is another dimension rather than another country.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* A planet which quickly becomes significant in the ''Cadre'' trilogy has ''three suns'' with visibly differing masses and ages, as well as a ''black hole'' close enough to be usually visible in the daytime sky. The sheer uniqueness of this arrangement, coupled with the fact that the first colonists lost navigational control and spent over a month helpless before gravitational forces neatly brought them to the planet led to the foundation of a system of religious philosophy which dominates the latter two books.
* Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Literature/ChildhoodsEnd'' briefly visits a planet that orbits ''eight'' stars. This gives it an utterly bizarre orbit in which every moment brings a unique arrangement of planet and stars.
* The homeworld of the utods in ''The Dark Light Years'' is in a trinary star system, and has a very peculiar orbit: periodically, the combined gravities of the two other suns pull the planet away from its current sun, moving it to circle a different one.
* Darwin IV, the planet described in Creator/WayneBarlowe's ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'', has twin suns. The term "sunslight" is used several times in the text, the better to remind readers of this.
* The ''Literature/{{Helliconia}}'' trilogy is set in a binary system, with the eponymous planet orbiting a dim sun called Batalix, and both Helliconia and Batalix orbiting a larger blue giant star called Freyr in a slow, highly elliptical orbit. This gives Helliconia centuries-long seasons, with powerful consequences for the development of its human civilization.
* Arthur Dent is impressed by watching a twin sunset from Magrathea in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1''. Marvin is a little more jaded.
* Literature/HonorHarrington 'verse:
** Technically the Manticore system, with Manticore and Sphinx orbiting Manticore-A while Gryphon orbits Manticore-B. However they are what's called a distant binary with enough separation that Manticore-B would just be a very bright star in the night skies of Manticore and Sphinx.

** Literature/HonorHarrington has a '''lot''' of binary star systems. Since it's not a visual medium, and there are rarely habitable planets orbiting both stars, it doesn't really matter much, though.

** Dr Asimov later realized such a system is unlikely to be stable, so he wrote "Literature/SuckerBait'' -- only two suns, ''but this time, I'm getting it right''.
* The ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series are partially set in Ki, a planet in a parallel dimension which orbits around two suns, Utu and Kili, in a "Figure 8". The immense pressure that their combined gravitational pull subjected the planet to was countered millennia ago by [[{{Precursors}} an ancient civilization]] with the creation of the [[WallAroundTheWorld Worldwide Dome]], which surrounds Ki like an artificial atmosphere. A few characters have complained that [[SkewedPriorities this is the reason why they can't enjoy satellite TV]].
* Norfolk in Peter F. Hamilton's ''Literature/NightsDawnTrilogy'' orbits the primary star of a binary system, lending a unique system involving "Duke day" (full white sunlight from the primary, Duke), "Duchess night" (red sunlight from the secondary, Duchess) and true night for the portions hidden from both stars. Duke day lasts for the same time all the time (at least at the equator), but Duchess night and true night pass between complete Duchess night and complete true night depending on the planet's position around its orbit.
* The planet Placet in Creator/FredricBrown's story "Placet is a Crazy Place" orbits two suns in a figure-of-eight. When it is between the suns, the human colonists experience visual hallucinations. This is only ''one'' of the reasons why it is considered crazy.
* ''Quest For The Fallen Star'' has the world in a figure-8 orbit, with another planet called Coldaria orbiting the whole system at a great distance.

* The Ranadon star system in Jennifer Fallon's ''Second Sons'' Trilogy concerns two suns, one a big red one seen at night, and the other a little yellow one during the day, as seen from the planet Ranadon. Every so often the red sun goes wandering, causing the 'Age of Shadows'.
* Creator/StanislawLem's ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'' has the eponymous planet of the kind described by the types IV to VI. The fact that its orbit is unrealistically stable is [[GeniusLoci a plot point]].

* The planet Naxera in Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra. The two suns are named for mythological brothers -- G'Dok and Leahru -- who also give their names to the two largest Naxeran [[FantasticCasteSystem castes]].
* Binary stars become a plot point in ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' series. The [[HyperspaceLanes jump points]] around them are unstable meaning that while you can use a jump drive to leave a binary system it's functionally impossible to use them to reach a binary system. However, it is possible to use sub-light travel to get to a binary system and then build a [[PortalNetwork hypernet gate]] (the second form of FTL travel in the series) in order to allow travel to and from the system.
** As such most binary systems aren't inhabited or visited. There is a mention that in the backstory that at least one colony deliberately set off for a binary star system in order to get away from the rest of humanity. In the last book it turns out that [[spoiler:Unity Alternate was setup in a binary star system as a security precaution. It was accessible by hypernet but the coordiantes for reaching that gate with kept secret.]]
* Trisolaris in ''Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem'' has three suns and is a nasty DeathWorld as a result. When it orbits any one sun, it goes into a Stable Era, during which conditions are actually pretty mild. However, the rest of the time it's being kicked around like a football during Chaotic Eras, where it alternates between broiling heat and freezing cold with absolutely no rhyme or reason at all. On particularly close or distant passes, temperatures may melt rock or drop to near absolute zero. Sometimes, the three suns align in a straight line with Trisolaris at one end, causing everything on the surface to literally fall into the nearest sun. Due to the eponymous three-body problem, all of this happens completely at random, and cannot be predicted at all. The only reason anything lives there at all is that native life adapted to dehydrate indefinitely and then come back when conditions got better.
* The planet on which Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett's Astreiant novels take place orbits the larger star of a binary system. The inhabitants call the smaller star the Winter-Sun.
* ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'': The eldrae's homeworld, Eliéra, is in a type II a system. And given that it's a nearly flat planet-sized {{Precursor|s}} artifact rather than a natural planet that explains how it has seasons.

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Gunsmoke is a [[DesertPunk desert world]] with twin suns.

Their prevalence in science fiction is actually an example of RealityIsUnrealistic, because binary stars are in fact much more common than single stars like our Sun[[note]]At least, when dealing with stars comparable in size and intrinsic brightness to the Sun (as well as with massive stars, that like to form part of double or multiple systems). The smaller, dimmer, and much more numerous red dwarf stars are usually solitary; solitary red dwarfs actually make up the majority of all star systems in any given significant volume of space.[[/note]], although it is uncertain how likely it is that habitable planets would form in the presence of two suns (for the sake of RuleOfCool, though, it's best [[MST3KMantra not to ask]]). So there is still some ArtisticLicenseAstronomy involved. Also keep in mind that everything would of course have two shadows, though if the suns significantly differ in luminosity then the one shadow will be noticeably darker than the other.

* The ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series are partially set in Ki, a planet in a parallel dimension which orbits around two suns, Utu and Kili, in a "Figure 8". The immense pressure that their combined gravitational pull subjected the planet to was countered millennia ago by [[{{Precursors}} an ancient civilization]] with the creation of the Worldwide Dome, which surrounds Ki like an artificial atmosphere. A few characters have complained that [[SkewedPriorities this is the reason why they can't enjoy satellite TV]].

* The ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series are partially set in Ki, a planet in a parallel dimension which orbits around two suns, Utu and Kili. The immense pressure that the planet is subjected to was countered by [[{{Precursors}} an ancient civilization]] with the creation of the world dome, which surrounds Ki like an artificial atmosphere. A few characters have complained that [[SkewedPriorities this is the reason why they can't enjoy satellite TV]].

A subtrope of AlienSky where a planet has two suns in the sky, either orbiting one of them or travelling in a long orbit around both of the stars. Occurs primarly in sci-fi settings, but certainly isn't limited to it.

A SubTrope of AlienSky.

[-[[caption-width-right:320:Never, ever forget your sunscreen on Tatooine.]]-]

* Planet Namek in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' has '''three''' suns, and perpetual daytime because at least one of them is always in the sky at any given time. Both Frieza and Vegeta are aware of this, and the sight of the sky turning dark can only mean that the planet's Dragon Balls are being used.

[[folder:Film — Live Action]]

* In episode 3990 of ''Series/SesameStreet'', Elmo read to María a story he wrote and illustrated about an imagined trip to a planet with two suns in its sky.
* On ''Series/{{Smallville}}", the Phantom Zone has two suns. When Lois is trapped in the phantom zone with Clark, this leads her to thinks she is not still in Kansas.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' features three binary systems in the first five seasons alone. The Jaffa world Chulak is a heavily forested planet orbiting a binary. A later episode briefly has SG-1 trapped on a binary-orbiting desert world because the stargate overheated when the second sun rose, preventing them from dialing out.
** The Aschen have the ability to create ''artificial'' binary systems by inducing fusion in gas giants. Somehow, the resulting star system is actually stable, as evidenced by the planet Volia in "2001".
*** This is a ShoutOut to Arthur C. Clarke's novel ''[[Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries 2010: Odyssey Two]]'', wherein the same is done to Jupiter.
* A ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode called "Night Terrors" is set in a binary system.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''
** In "Prime Factors", a beautiful alien woman takes Harry Kim onto a [[{{Teleportation}} transporter]] so they can find a MakeOutPoint. When Harry sees this trope however, he realises they've [[AlienSky traveled to another star system]] and forgets all about the woman in his arms, as Voyager is in desperate need of a means to get back to Earth, being trapped on the other side of the galaxy.
** Neelix picks up an EmbarrassinglyPainfulSunburn when he makes the mistake of sunbathing under twin suns without sunscreen.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** The planet Vashti is located in a binary star system, and both suns shine down on North Station.
** There's an octonary star system where eight stars are arranged in seven distinct orbits: four pairs of stars orbit each other, two pairs of those orbit each other in a larger radius, and those two pairs orbit each other in the largest radius. There's a habitable planet named Aia in the center of the main orbit. It was artificially constructed so that any spacefaring civilization would notice it and investigate, since the odds of such a system forming naturally would be infinitesimal.
* Oz (excuse me, [[InsistentTerminology "the Outer Zone"]]) in ''Series/TinMan'' has dual suns and several moons. The plot concerns an [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot upcoming double eclipse]] in which both suns are behind one of the moons at once.