Information and IdeasHardInference about exoplanet surveys
Information and Ideas practice question
The two chief methods of finding exoplanets both favor a particular kind of world. A planet that is large and orbits close to its star tugs the star more and blocks more of its light, so such planets dominate the catalogs, while small planets on distant orbits can escape detection entirely. Astronomers therefore caution that the planet types filling today's catalogs may ____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
- A. reflect what the methods can see rather than what is typical among planets.Correct
- B. prove that small, distant planets are rare in the galaxy.
- C. confirm that our solar system is the most common type.
- D. show that astronomers chose to ignore smaller planets.
Answer: A. reflect what the methods can see rather than what is typical among planets.
Both detection methods favor big planets orbiting close to their stars, so a catalog dominated by such planets mirrors the instruments' bias, not necessarily the galaxy's makeup.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. prove that small, distant planets are rare in the galaxy.
- Hard-to-detect is not the same as rare — that is the text's central caution.
- C. confirm that our solar system is the most common type.
- Our solar system's planets would be hard for these surveys to find, which undercuts, not confirms, 'most common.'
- D. show that astronomers chose to ignore smaller planets.
- The limitation described is in the methods' sensitivity, not in astronomers' choices.
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