NASA and Star Wars: these fictional worlds from the franchise have an uncanny resemblance to the real world

NASA shared a special surprise for Star Wars fans on May 4, revealing how the fictional series is inspired by the real world. The franchise introduced a fictional world to its viewers, making it hard to imagine that the planets featured in the series would have any relationship to our universe. Turns out they do. The space agency has shared details of several planets featured in the series that look strikingly similar to real-world planets. If you’re a Star Wars fan, it won’t be a task to identify which worlds in the franchise resemble planets that exist in real life.

NASA’s first Instagram post was Hoth, an icy world, home to deadly creatures like the wampa. It was shown in the 1980 Stars Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back.

Hoth looks a lot like Pluto, says NASA. The dwarf planet can reach temperatures as low as minus 240 degrees Celsius, cold enough to worry even a tauntaun, which is a fictional species of non-sentient lizard native to the snowy plains of Hoth. As shared by NASA, Pluto’s surface has abundant mountains, valleys, plains, as well as frozen water craters. The planet also contains gases like methane.

Next is Mustafar, first seen in the 2005 film, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The volcanic world shares a resemblance to Venus, the second planet from the sun. The thick atmosphere helps hide the surface, which is usually covered in impact craters, lava flows, and earthquake faults.

The third in pictures is Geonosis, the site of the first battle in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, released in 2008. The dry and rugged landscape makes it easy to recognize the planet. The surface has a powerful red hue from its soil and stone. “It’s no surprise that the concept for Geonosis was partially inspired by the landscapes seen on the real-world red planet, Mars,” NASA wrote in the caption.

Finally, there’s Endor, which was introduced in the 1983 film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It resembles the largest of Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede, and generates its own magnetic field. New evidence from NASA’s Hubble Telescope suggests that Ganymede has a huge subterranean saltwater ocean, containing more water than on all of Earth.

Take a look at the post here:

What do you think of NASA’s connection to the fictional world of Star Wars?

---