A circumbinary planet is a planet that orbits two stars instead of one. Because of the close proximity and orbit of some binary stars, the only way for planets to form is by forming outside the orbit of the two stars. As of October 15, 2012, there are sixteen confirmed systems of circumbinary planets: PSR B1620-26, HW Virginis, Kepler-16, Kepler-34, Kepler-35, Kepler-38, Kepler-47, Ross 458, NY Virginis, UZ Fornacis, RR Caeli, HU Aquarii, DP Leonis, NN Serpentis, NSVS 14256825 and PH1.
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“What I like, or one of the things I like, about motoring is the sense it gives one of lighting accidentally, like a voyager who touches another planet with the tip of his toe, upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Then it seems to me I am allowed to see the heart of the world uncovered for a moment.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)