96- Which of the following best describes the author's attitude towards Earth Hour? 1) Annoyed 2) Uncertain 3) Surprised 4) Amused PASSAGE 2: How many planets are there in our galaxy? That is a tricky question to answer. Are there other planets that support life? That is exactly what the Kepler mission hopes to discover. NASA launched the Kepler space telescope, designed to find habitable planets, in 2009. So far it has discovered five new Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. These planets are hotter than the Earth -- much too hot for life as we know it. The Kepler team predict that they will need at least three years (and possibly longer) to find an Earth-like planet. The simplest requirement for a planet to have life (carbon-based life like on Earth) is for there to be liquid water (not frozen or gas) so the distance from the planet's sun and therefore temperature are important. There also needs to be the correct amount of air. If a planet is as small as Mars (half the size of Earth) its weak gravity means that itcannot hold on to air molecules. If a planet is Neptune sized (four times bigger than Earth) it has very strong gravity and too much air. So size matters too. The cost of the mission is approximately six hundred million dollars. It is scheduled to observe until 2013 but this could be extended. Will we be sad if we discover we are alone in our galaxy or happy if we find that we share it with other life forms?
\textbf{96- Which of the following best describes the author's attitude towards Earth Hour?}
\hspace{1cm} 1) Annoyed \hspace{1cm} 2) Uncertain \hspace{1cm} 3) Surprised \hspace{1cm} 4) Amused
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\textbf{\textit{PASSAGE 2:}}
How many planets are there in our galaxy? That is a tricky question to answer. Are there other planets that support life? That is exactly what the Kepler mission hopes to discover. NASA launched the Kepler space telescope, designed to find habitable planets, in 2009. So far it has discovered five new Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. These planets are hotter than the Earth -- much too hot for life as we know it. The Kepler team predict that they will need at least three years (and possibly longer) to find an Earth-like planet.
\hspace{1cm} The simplest requirement for a planet to have life (carbon-based life like on Earth) is for there to be liquid water (not frozen or gas) so the distance from the planet's sun and therefore temperature are important. There also needs to be the correct amount of air. \underline{If a planet is as small as Mars (half the size of Earth) its weak gravity means that it} \underline{cannot hold on to air molecules.} If a planet is Neptune sized (four times bigger than Earth) it has very strong gravity and too much air. So size matters too.
\hspace{1cm} The cost of the mission is approximately six hundred million dollars. It is scheduled to observe until 2013 but this could be extended. Will we be sad if we discover we are alone in our galaxy or happy if we find that we share it with other life forms?
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