首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
What do the speakers mainly discuss? Why is the planet Gliese 58le unlikely to support carbon-based life?
What do the speakers mainly discuss? Why is the planet Gliese 58le unlikely to support carbon-based life?
admin
2022-07-28
45
问题
What do the speakers mainly discuss?
Why is the planet Gliese 58le unlikely to support carbon-based life?
Listen to part of a lecture in an astronomy class. (P =Professor, S = Student)
P: We already studied the planets in our solar system, and how they were detected. Okay, today, I’d like to turn our attention to what are called exoplanets and how researchers discovered them. Well, exoplanets are basically planets that are found outside the solar system. They orbit a star, what’s called host star, in a solar system other than that of Earth. Due to improved observational technologies, the rate of detection has increased rapidly. Over the last 15 years, astronomers have detected nearly 500 exoplanets, and the study of exoplanets has been getting exciting. What makes it so astonishing is the fact that the discovery of the first exoplanet was confirmed only in the mid-1990s. Now, we’re finding new ones every few weeks or so. Yes?
S: I wonder if any of these exoplanets harbor lives on them. Is that why astronomers are so interested in them? I mean, the only exoplanets we know like Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants and couldn’t support carbon-based life.
P: Okay, let’s talk about that first. As for the habitability, it depends on many factors and well… I think that sort of discovery is pretty far in the future, but it is an eventual goal. We’re now going to consider locating planets around the host star in an area called the habitable zone. It’s the region around a star where conditions are best for life to form. Theoretically, it is possible for a planet to support carbon-based life. So, what conditions are required?
S: Water!
P: Yes, and also it needs to have sufficient atmospheric pressure to maintain liquid water on its surface. What else?
S: Um… it would need to be a rocky planet. I mean, as opposed to a gas giant.
P: An earth-like planet. Okay, good! Actually, there are some recently discovered exoplanets that are earthlike. Um… for instance, it’s a star, a red dwarf star, that’s what most stars are. It’s called Gliese 581. Gliese 581 is… a red dwarf, but it’s more interesting than that name makes it seem. This host star is located 20 light years away, which is pretty close by astronomical standards. So it’s considered a near neighbor of our solar system. And its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun. That is, it’s relatively small and cool at least compared with the sun. And researchers have discovered other planets orbiting Gliese 581. These are Gliese 581b, c, d, and e, in alphabetical order of their discovery. What I’d like to focus on now is Gliese 581d, and e. In 2009, a group of astronomers reported that these two exoplanets, orbiting not far from the inner and outer edge of its habitable zone, do have some earth-like qualities. Gliese 581d, had actually been discovered a couple of years earlier, and was initially judged to be too far from its host star, making it too cold for life. However, later its orbit was reexamined and now we see that it is potentially habitable.
S: So, does it have a liquid ocean like Earth?
P: Well, conceivably. See, Gliese 581d, with a mass of roughly seven Earths, or half Uranus, it is too massive to be entirely made of rocks. The researchers studying it said that it could have a rocky core, an ice layer, a large deep ocean, and an atmosphere. Okay, another announcement made by researchers was the discovery of Gliese 58le. This planet is relatively small compared with other exoplanets. Its mass is only about twice that of Earth.
S: So, is Gliese 58le a more earth-like exoplanet?
P: Well, Gliese 58 le orbits its host star in a much shorter period of time than the others in this system. I mean, if you consider its orbit, you’ll find out that it’s very close to the star. Therefore, too hot for water to form liquid. However, the fact that it’s relatively close to the size of earth, small, in astronomical terms, that was pretty exciting. And it’s very impressive that we have more advanced technology to discover it. There’s good reason to believe that the more we search, the more we’ll find.
选项
A、It is too hot.
B、It is too small.
C、It is covered in ice.
D、It is made entirely of gas.
答案
A
解析
题目询问格利泽58le无法支持碳基生命生存的原因。在讲座中,教授问学生,碳基生命所需要的条件是什么?学生回答“冰”。在这个前提下,再来看格利泽58le的情况:温度太高,不能形成液态水(too hot for water to form liquid)。由此判断,格利泽58le无法支持碳基生命的原囡是太热了,选A项。B项“它太小了”、C项“它被冰覆盖”和D项“它完全由气体组成”都缺乏依据。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2KfO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
WhatinformationdoesAnniegiveaboutskiingoneachofthefollowingmountaintrails?ChooseFOURanswersfromtheboxandwri
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.Alex’sTrainingExampleAlexcompletedhistrainingin
Completethesentencesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.NationalStatistics.com
ChooseTWOlettersA-E.WhichTWOchangestotheorganisationofthisyear’sfestivalarementioned?AFreeparking.BFreerefr
ChooseTHREEletters,A-F.WhichTHREEthingsarethestudentsrequiredtosubmittotheirprofessor?AawrittensummaryBnote
Labelthemapbelow.WritethecorrectletterA-H,nexttoQuestions11-15.SilverRiver
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.Theprofessorsuggeststhatinfiveyears’time
Accordingtothespeakers,whatfunctionhastapaplayedinthefollowingcountries?Writethecorrectletter,A,B,CorD,ne
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.Whathappenedin2009intheUK?
hesitate本题有关中国学生对自己文化背景下学习体系的评论。录音原文的don’tcontributemuchtoclassdiscussions对应题目中的contributelittletodiscussions“几乎不参与讨论”。录
随机试题
预先决定要做什么、为什么要做、何时去做、在何地做、由什么人做以及如何做是管理职能的( )
A、2年B、3年C、5年D、1年E、7年零6个月《药品经营许可证》的有效期为
以下不属于咨询合同财务建议书内容的是()。
贯穿丰田生产方式的两大支柱是准时化和()。
公司倾向于首先采用内部筹资,因之不会传导任何可能对股价不利的信息;如果需要外部筹资,公司将先选择债权筹资,再选择其他外部债权筹资,这种筹资顺序的选择也不会传递对公司股价产生不利影响的信息。该观点是()。
出质人不能将( )提供质押。
研究人员发现磁铁竟然能够控制热量与声波,难题在于需要用到非常大的磁铁,所以这项研究无法在短期内获得实际应用。这主要表明()。①认识总要受到具体的实践水平限制②人的实践活动是历史发展着的③实践活动过程受事物及运动规律制约④实践是一种直接现实性的活
Eachcountrymusttailoritsenergyplantoits______endowmentofrichenergyresources.
党的思想路线的本质要求是
全面依法治国,必须抓住()这个“关键少数”。
最新回复
(
0
)