File photo of a digital composite of the solar system (©Kevin Kelley/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

Parallel universe found, turns out our twin is grotesque

7/9/2012

That good old philosophical conundrum about parallel universes has just been answered. Astronomers have identified another solar system that mirrors our own but in an extra-large, super-hot iteration, and they're calling it our "grotesque twin." Saddled with the unglamorous name GJ676A, the newly discovered system has two rocky planets circling near a host star, and two gassy ones farther out. But for those dreaming of that alternate universe where they'll find their perfected self, sorry, but everything is much, much bigger in GJ676A, so you're unlikely to suddenly find yourself wearing a size zero over there.

most recent

Do you think human-inhabited parallel universes really exist?