The city where Anakin Skywalker grew up is set to be destroyed by a giant, Pacman-shaped sand dune that is working its way across the Tunisian desert. Scientists from the Space Department of a US university warned the public not to underestimate the power of the force involved in moving the huge crescent of sand, known as a “barchan”, which is expected to devastate the city of Mos Espa, featured in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The barchan is estimated to be moving at a rate of 15 metres a year, some 10 times faster than those on Mars, and tourism photos from this year - featured as an example of “geomorphologically-useful citizen science” – indicate that the front edge has already reached the first buildings on the outskirts of Mos Espa. Image caption Crescent-shaped dunes glide across the face of many planets, from Mars to Tatooine 
 
 Ralph Lorenz, from Johns Hopkins University, US, together with Jason Barnes, from the University of Idaho, Jani Radebaugh from Brigham-Young University (BYU) and Nabil Gasmi, of the University of Sousse, Tunisia, visited the Mos Espa site in 2009, and noted that part of a nearby set used in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope had already been overrun. The astrophysics expert, who has previously compared the moment Titan moved into view of a giant telescope to a scene in Episode IV where a planet drifts into the sights of the Death Star, said: “Reality can sometimes be more amazing than science fiction.” 
 
 While dune migration can be difficult to predict, Dr Lorenz estimated that nothing short of an heroic intervention could save Mos Espa, once home to Anakin, his slave owner Watto, and rival pod-racer Sebulba.
– Poor Anakin Skywalker: First he turns into Darth Vader, and now his childhood home is about to be eaten by a wind-blown sand dune. The Tunisia set for the Tatooine city of Mos Espa in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is expected to soon be buried by the oncoming dune, say scientists, whose observation is more than just a bit of Hollywood trivia. They've actually used the set as a stationary reference point in their study of barchans, or crescent-shaped dunes, the BBC reports. Satellite images have shown the US- and Tunisia-based scientists that this particular barchan is chugging along at a rate of about 50 feet per year. Per tourism photos taken this year, it looks to be already touching the edge of the set, which wouldn't be the first to suffer such a fate: A neighboring site that featured in Star Wars Episode IV was blanketed in sand in 2003, the Independent notes. The good news for Star Wars fans: "Given the importance of this site to the tourism industry of Tunisia, it may be that it is a candidate for mitigation measures [like constructing fences], not being pursued at present," the scientists say. And if nothing is done to stop it, the dune should keep going after it covers the city, bringing Mos Espa once again to light—though probably with some damage. (Click for another tale of desert woe.)