Real Stars in the Universe of "Dune"

The "Dune" universe references many real stars.

For instance, the home planet of House Harkonnen, Giedi Prime, is part of the 36 Ophiuchi system. Contrary to Villeneuve's film, there are no black stars there; 36 Ophiuchi consists of three orange dwarfs.

House Atreides' home, Caladan, orbits Delta Pavonis. This once sun-like star has nearly exhausted its hydrogen and is transforming into a red giant. In reality, House Atreides would need to leave this system to find a new home.

The primary planet of "Dune," Arrakis, also orbits a real star—Canopus. This white-blue giant is 8-10 times more massive than the Sun, 70 times its radius, and over 10,000 times more luminous. At around 30 million years old, it's quite young compared to our Sun.

However, more massive stars die faster. Canopus has already depleted its hydrogen fuel and is now undergoing helium fusion. Its future is uncertain; it may become a red giant and then a white dwarf, like our Sun, or it might explode as a supernova. Fortunately, Canopus is very far from us.