Tatoo II/Legends

"And this is no place to be without transportation once those twin suns really start cookin'!"

- Han Solo

Tatoo II, also known as G2, was one of the yellow stars at the heart of the Tatoo system. A binary star, its partner was Tatoo I.

Description
Tatoo II was a G2-type main sequence binary star, sister of G1-type Tatoo I. They formed the Tatoo system with the planets Tatooine, Ohann, and Adriana. The system lied at the crossroads of the Triellus Trade Route and the Old Corellian Run in the Arkanis sector of the the Slice's Outer Rim segment. In Huttese, the dominant language on Tatooine, the twin suns were known as "Gi Dopa Gasha."

Tatoo II was formed when a hydrogen molecular cloud collapsed. Through most of the its life, energy was produced by nuclear fusion which converted hydrogen into helium. Each second, millions of metric tons of matter were converted into energy within Tatoo II's core, producing neutrinos and solar radiation. It had a lifespan of roughly ten billion years as a main sequence star. Tatoo II did not have enough mass to explode as a supernova. At the end of its lifespan, stars of its kind entered a red giant phase, its outer layers expanding as the hydrogen fuel in the core is consumed and the core contracts and heats up.

Culture
Children on Tatooine would often tell stories of huge, powerful dragons that would live inside the two great suns that would shine down upon them. Smaller cousins of these dragons were to live in the fusion furnaces that powered many types of machinery and vehicles.

History
Some early explorers thought the first planet of the system to be the third star, because of its blazing light reflected by its sodium-rich deserts. Tatooine had a strong presence in the Force, which led the Infinite Empire of the Rakata to the star system of Tatoo II. The collapse of their empire in 25,200 BBY caused the system to left alone for some millennia. The Galactic Republic explored the segment of the Slice in which Tatoo II was located during the Great Manifest Period and the Indecta Era. By 1004 BBY, the nearby region belonged to the New Sith Empire, including Hutt Space, a large region of the known galaxy controlled by the Hutt species. After the Seventh Battle of Ruusan in 1000 BBY the region remained in Hutt control until the reign of the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War the system changed hand several times: it's region was taken from the New Republic by the Empire during the Thrawn campaign, but was left after the Grand Admiral's death. Later the space around the Tatoo II was controlled by the Galactic Alliance, until the Sith–Imperial War 127–130 ABY, when the Fel Empire conquested much of the known galaxy, but was quickly replaced by Darth Krayt's Sith Empire.

Behind the scenes
Tatoo II was created for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, but technically it appeared first in the novelization of the film in December 1976, half a year before the premiere.

Although the famous binary sunset scenes depicted the two suns as being of similar size, other sources show one sun significantly larger than the other. No explanation for this has been given.

Non-canon appearances

 * Old Wounds