Does Earth have a twin?

Question

If Earth has a twin, then have people gone there? Is there animals and living things there? Is it different from earth?

Answer 1

Yes, Earth has a twin, but the two had a falling out and neither has called the other in years. It's quite sad, really.

Answer 2

The philosopher Philolaus (480 – 385 BC) believed that in order for the solar system to "balance", there might be a "Counter-Earth" or "Antichthon", another planet that was on the other side of the "celestial fire" (another hypothetical body around which he thought the earth, the sun and Antichthon orbited). Of course, we now know this to be false, that the sun is the centre of our solar system, and that there is no "Counter-Earth" on the other side of the sun. If there were another planet on the same orbit as us but always hidden by the sun, we would still be able to detect its presence by its gravitational effects on the orbits of other planets. And of course any space probes we send out would also have their trajectories messed up by the existence of a hitherto undetected planet; this has not happened, and all the space probes have behaved just as calculated. It's a fun idea though, the thought that Earth has a counterpart, and one that has been explored in science fiction as a place where strange alien beings might come from.

Answer 3

Since there are countless stars in existence, it is very probable that somewhere in space there would be a planet that's similar to ours in terms of climate and atmosphere.

However, that does not neccesarily mean that there would be life on it. If there's life on it, it doesn't also mean they're inteligent, too. In other words: there's no chance that a duplicate Earth exists, but there is a probable chance that a similar planet is out there.

Answer 4

There are many different theories about that.They say that there is a identical Earth that is in the same orbit as our own,only on the other side of the sun so we can not see it at all.

Answer 5

The "twin" of Earth is Venus. But no people have gone there, it's too inhospitable.

Venus is called Earth's twin because the two planets are about the same size. There is no actual twin.

Answer 6

Not that we know of at this time.

Astronomers using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at La Silla Observatory in Chile have discovered three new rocky planets orbiting a single star, all within ten times the size of Earth.

The smallest of the three is only four times the size of Earth. The HARPS spectrograph is one of only two instruments capable of detecting planets this small. Even so, it took five years of careful observation of the host star for the researchers to establish the existence of the planet.

The discovery, along with other data collected by HARPS, suggests there may be a prevalence of exosolar terrestrial bodies in our galaxy. By some estimates, one out of every three sun-like stars could be host to a world with a mass and orbit similar to Earth's. It may even be possible that nearly every star has planets of some kind.

"Scientists have discovered a new planet in the constellation Libra. The small, rocky planet is special because it appears to have mild temperatures, like Earth. Researchers believe it looks like the first planet outside of our solar system that could be home to liquid water, and maybe even life."

"Mayor and his colleagues have had some luck using the European Southern Observatory's big telescope at La Silla, Chile. They recently pointed it at a nearby star called Gliese 581, in the constellation Libra.

"It's one of our closest neighbors in the galaxy," Mayor says.

His team has found three planets around this star, and one of them is particularly interesting. They think the planet is a little bigger than Earth, with about five times the Earth's mass. It orbits very close to its star, going all the way around in just 13 days. The planet isn't super hot though, because Gliese 581 is a red dwarf, which is much dimmer and cooler than our sun.

Scientists calculate that average temperatures on the surface of the planet should be around 32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Mayor says that is a friendly environment for liquid water and maybe even life.

"We do not have any reason to believe that life exists on that planet," Mayor concedes. "We can only say that we have the temperature to permit the development of life. I would say it's one very interesting step in a long process going in the direction to having some major discovery related to life in the universe."

But don't count on visiting anytime soon. Even though Gliese 581 is close, compared with other stars, it still would take over 20 years to get there — if we could travel at the speed of light, which we can't do."

"Another Earth could be orbiting one of the Sun's closest stellar neighbours, scientists believe.

Habitable rocky planets are likely to have formed in the Alpha Centauri system, a trio of stars 4.37 light years, or 25.8 trillion miles, away, a study has shown.

Astronomers say if such worlds exist they could be detected using a dedicated telescope."

Answer 7

Why would earth have a twin?  Planets don't form like babies.  Earth was simply a mass of molten elements that were pulled in by the sun's gravity and eventually cooled to form a solid planet.

Earth is the only known planet to support life.

"There are many different theories about that.They say that there is a identical Earth that is in the same orbit as our own,only on the other side of the sun so we can not see it at all."

We have made observations into our solar system from vantage points other than Earth.  We would know if there were another planet 'hiding' on the other side of the sun.

Answer 8

Well, they say that out of all the planets we know about, Mars is most like us because there is fresh water. That's why they suspect "Aliens on Mars." I guess you could call that our twin.

Answer 9

i heared that ceres is like a life like earth it is the same size and everything except no air and its an aestriod.

Answer 10

Venus

Answer 11

NOT that we know of.

Answer 12

while this fantasy has been around for about 70 years. There is NO Twin of Earth in This Solar System.

Answer 13

Is there is a planet on the exact opposite side of the Sun that is just like Earth?  Unfortunately, while such a planet could exist there for a brief period, over geologic time, it is unstable.  Small gravity pushes and pulls from the other planets would move it, and eventually it would crash into the Earth, or something else. And, it would have been spotted by any number of space craft that have left the Earth.  So, that doesn't exist.  This idea has made for some great science fiction, though.

Venus is nearly the size of Earth, but is too hot for Earth like life.

Mars is the second best environment for life.  It's not good enough for animals.  MRO would have seen them.

But there very well could be a twin of Earth around some other star in the galaxy or the Universe.  It is highly probable that there is.  If you consider enough of the Universe, you'd be able to find planets that are astonishingly similar to the Earth.

At the moment, we're on the verge of being able to detect planets around nearby stars that are as small as Earth.  Stay tuned.