Vocabulary:
- mission /MISH-uh n/
- revolve /ri-VOLV/
- sustain /suh-STEYN/
- denote /dih-NOHT/
- intern /IN-turn/
[noun] the result that a company or an organization is trying to achieve through its plans or actions
The LeeBai corporation’s mission is to provide contractual jobs for the unemployed visa-holders.
[verb] to move or cause something to move around a central point or line
There are nine planets revolving around the sun.
[verb] to cause or allow something to continue for a period of time
The mayor distributed all the grocery items to sustain food supplies for the whole week of deluge in their city.
[verb] to represent or mean something
Her beauty denoted a war between two kingdoms.
[noun] someone who is receiving training by obtaining practical experience of a type of work
Edgar became an intern at St. Louise Hospital in Louisiana before he went back to Vermont to finish his course.
On the other hand, the TESS or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, have discovered a planet revolving around two suns just like in Star Wars’ Tatooine. This Tatooine planet known as TOI 1338 b is part of the Pictor constellation, with a size between Neptune and Saturn, and with constant eclipses coming from its two stars. An intern at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Wolf Cukier, noticed this Tatooine in TESS data and said: “I was looking through the data for everything the volunteers had flagged as an eclipsing binary, a system where two stars circle around each other and from our view eclipse each other every orbit. About three days into my internship, I saw a signal from a system called TOI 1338. At first, I thought it was a stellar eclipse, but the timing was wrong. It turned out to be a planet.”
True or False:
- An exoplanet was found by NASA TESS mission, and it revolves around the TOI 700 star.
- Planet TOI 700 d is not the same as the size of the Earth.
- TESS has discovered a planet revolving around two suns just like in Star Wars’ Tatooine.
- The Tatooine planet known as TOI 1338 b is a part of the Dorado constellation.
- Wolf Cukier saw a signal from system TOI 1338 and thought it was just a stellar eclipse.
Discussion Questions:
- What can you say about TESS or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite? Please discuss.
- According to the article, TOI 700 d has the potential to sustain life. Please give your thoughts about it.
- In your opinion, is it possible for humans to live on a Tatooine-like planet? Explain your answer.
- If you were to live on another planet, please describe your ideal planet to live in.
- Please give some characteristics of Earth that are essential for human life.
Express Your Opinion:
- “From the exoplanet data, astronomers can now say with confidence that one out of every five stars hosts a world where life as we know it could form. So, when you’re standing out there under the night sky, choose five random stars. Chances are, one of them has a world in its Goldilocks zone where liquid water could be flowing across its surface and life might already exist.”
― Adam Frank, Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth - “We will spend billions making inhospitable distant planets habitable. And yet we spend trillions destroying the abundant ingredients for life on our home planet.”
― Freequill - “Water on Mars isn’t the only thing that they’re going to find.”
― Anthony T. Hincks