In Manhattan, the beauty of the night sky is only a faded metaphor, th

Question

Aristotle RC 99 - Passage 81     
   In Manhattan, the beauty of the night sky is only a faded metaphor, the shopworn verse of an outdated love song. The stars shine no brighter at midnight in midtown than the ones depicted on the time-dimmed ceiling of the waiting room at Grand Central Terminal. The eternal orange glow of the city lights leaves only the faintest hints of the blackness beyond. And when the sky is truly clear and the clouds do not reflect this amber aura, the brightness of the city environs constrict the pupils so much that only the moon can be seen on most evenings. But over the last few weeks it has been possible, even in Manhattan, to watch the evening star—Venus—descending in the west, presenting her orbit, edgewise, to viewers on Earth.

Venus is the luminous body hanging over New Jersey to the west in the early evening. In spite of the fact that it emanates no light of its own—only reflecting light from its neighbour and provider, the sun—it is brighter than any heavenly object visible from Earth except the sun and the moon. For the moment, Venus becomes apparent at twilight, about a third of the way up the western sky, and it sets around 11. Every night people go to bed wondering what strangely bright star that is. To those who live in New York City, it may be the only star they see when trapped on this tiny little island. Whatever the case, in the morning no one remembers that luminous body any longer.

To say, as one must, that Venus is not a star but a planet seems ungrateful, almost pedantic. Astronomers might have us know that this distinction is not a mere splitting of hairs, but the most basic of divisions, not unlike that of plants and animals. Be that as it may, it is the kind of technicality the English essayist Charles Lamb had in mind when defending the generosity of his personal ignorance almost 200 years ago. ―I guess at Venus,‖ he wrote, ―only by her brightness.‖ Lamb was no Copernican, and neither are most of us.  We are little Ptolemies  every one. The sun rises and sets upon us. When one lies upon a meadow late at night, etherized by the fullness of the sky, it is all one can do to imagine the simplest of celestial motions—the pivoting of constellations around the North Star. To impart to each point of light the motions that are proper to it—to do the unimaginable calculus of all those interfering rotations, those intersecting gravities—is simply impossible. It is easier to imagine that one is staring at the ceiling of a celestial waiting room, forever spinning around and around above our heads.

But at the moment, one can almost picture the motion of Venus in its orbit, as if one were looking at a diagram of the solar system. Imagine a line between the sun, at sunset, and Venus, glittering high above the horizon. That, roughly speaking, is the path of the Venusian orbit. When Venus moves toward Earth, as it is doing now, it is the evening star, and when it moves away from Earth, it is the morning star. Even this, to some, might seem like a stretch of the abilities of conceptualization, but it is worth the challenge. For if one can muddle through this mental errand for a moment, it will become clear that a change is about to take place. The moment of transition will occur on June 10, when Venus passes between the sun and Earth. As May wears on, Venus will appearnearer and nearer the sun, until the planet is engulfed by twilight. Venus will come back into view, at dawn, sometime in late July.

For now, the evening star—Hesperus, as it was anciently known—is a steadily waning crescent, no matter how star-like or globular its light appears. It will not return to its present position until sometime in December 1997. And who knows where we will be by then? Surely someone, but not me, not one of the little Ptolemies, that stares up into the night sky and sees a most beautiful display, arranged every night for his personal enjoyment.   1 
 A 
 1. Which of the following would support the author‘s phrase, ―We are little Ptolemies ( Highlighted )?

A. Most people visualize the night sky from a geocentric point of view and in this way are unable to understand the complex paths of the numerous celestial motions in space.
B. Most people are not as knowledgeable about space as Copernicus or Ptolemy and for them, it is impossible to understand the complexities of numerous celestial motions in space.
C. Those who have studied astronomy are the ones most likely to understand the complexities of numerous celestial motions in space.
D. Those who are aware that Venus is a planet and not a star are still likely to refer to Venus as a star because of its beauty and resemblance to a star in the night sky.
E. Those who are confused as to whether Venus is a planet or a star would do well to read the works of Ptolemy

2 
 C 
 2. Taking into account all the points made within the context of the passage, the author would most likely support which of the following statements?

A. Venus can be observed in the sky only once every several years and only between May and late July.
B. Venus may be observed first in the western sky and then in the eastern sky between May and late July.
C. Without the astronomical skills of Copernicus, those on Earth are unable to comprehend Venus‘ orbit even though they may identify it by its brightness.
D. Environmental and clean-up efforts should be made in Manhattan so that Venus and the other wonders of the night sky are again visible to those that reside there.
E. Those who think Venus is a star should be educated as to why it is not so.

3 
 A 
 3. According to information given within the context of the passage, Hesperus is known as the evening star for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A. as Hesperus passes between the sun and Earth, it is globular in form and appears star-like.
B. until June 10, Hesperus can only be seen at twilight until about eleven o‘clock at night.
C. Hesperus‘ path toward Earth can be observed only in the evening as it descends in the western sky.
D. except for the sun and the moon, Hesperus is sometimes the brightest object visible from Earth during the early evening.
E. Hesperus is the brightest of all the nine planets and almost as bright as a star.

New Project RC Butler 2019  -  Practice 2 RC Passages Everyday   
Passage # 398, Date: 18-Oct-2019
 This post is a part of New Project RC Butler 2019 .  Click here for Details

Gmatsaiyan · Answer

Topic and Scope  - The author discusses the orbit of Venus and its appearance from
earth.
 Mapping the Passage 
¶1 states that at the time of the passage‘s writing, Venus was visible as the ―evening
star.‖
¶2 describes the appearance of Venus and the times at which the planet is visible.
¶3 describes the difficulties in understanding the motion of the stars simply by
looking.
¶4 argues that it‘s possible to nearly imagine the motion of Venus in orbit and
describes this motion.
¶5 discusses Venus‘s orbit and when it will return to its current position.

Gmatsaiyan · Answer

Answers and Explanations 
  1)  Go back to review the author‘s point in context. The author follows the ―little
Ptolemies‖ statement with the elaboration that ―the sun rises and sets upon us.‖
Looking for an answer choice that fits this earth-cantered point of view immediately
turns up (A).
(A): The correct answer
(B): Distortion. While the author discusses the astronomers, he‘s not using them to
compare their knowledge to regular people, but to contrast their different
astronomical views.
(C): Out of Scope. The author is arguing that ―most of us‖ have little knowledge of
astronomy and so don‘t understand the complexities of space. The case of
those who do have this knowledge is outside the scope of the comment.
(D): Out of Scope. While this might be true, it doesn‘t tie into the author‘s point
about Ptolemies: most don‘t understand the complexities of the universe.
(E): Out of scope.
 2)  Go back to ¶3 to review what the author says about Copernicus. The author
mentions Lamb who says that he sees Venus by its brightness. The author follows
this with the statement, ―Lamb was no Copernican, and neither are most of us.‖
Paraphrase this: Copernicus had a good enough grasp of astronomy to understand
what Venus was doing, but we can‘t. (C) captures all of this.
(A): Opposite. While the author implies that the appearance of Venus changes over
a long period of time, this doesn‘t mean that Venus is only visible during a
certain range of years. The author also argues in ¶4 that Venus isn’t visible
between May and July.(B): Opposite. The author argues in ¶4 that between May and July, Venus isn‘t
visible.
(C): The correct answer
(D): Out of Scope. While the author mentions in ¶1 that it‘s difficult to see much in
the Manhattan sky, there‘s no indication from the author that environmental
efforts should be made.
(E): Out of scope.
 3)  Review the location of the author‘s main points about the evening star, primarily in
¶s 1 and 4. As usual with this question type, keep an eye out for something that
contradicts the author‘s argument. (A) not only does this, but also makes no sense.
The author argues in ¶4 that Venus is invisible when passing between the earth
and the sun, which makes sense if one has to look in the direction of the sun to see
Venus.
(A): The correct answer
(B): Opposite. This is a combination of the author‘s points in ¶s 2 and 4 about
Venus‘ visibility during time of day and month.
(C): Opposite. The author makes this point in ¶1.
(D): Opposite. The author states this explicitly in ¶2
(E): Opposite. This can be inferred from the information in the passage.

rishabh goel · Answer

In this in 3rd question, it says A is answer.
But in last para, it clearly says no matter how globular or star like it is, it will appear....
So A is said in statement, E is not said in passage. Please tell what is answer of 3rd question.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. According to information given within the context of the passage, Hesperus is known as the evening star for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

Explanation 
 
Review the location of the author‘s main points about the evening star, primarily in  Paragraphs 1  and  4.  As usual with this question type, keep an eye out for something that contradicts the author‘s argument.  (A)  not only does this, but also makes no sense. The author argues in  Paragraph 4  that Venus is invisible when passing between the earth and the sun, which makes sense if one has to look in the direction of the sun to see Venus.  (B)  is incorrect. Hesperus, which is Venus, is not globular in form but appears as a steadily waning crescent. The passage mentions,  "For now, the evening star—Hesperus, as it was anciently known—is a steadily waning crescent."  Therefore,  option A  is the correct answer.

(A):  The correct answer

(B): Opposite.  This is a combination of the author‘s points in  Paragraphs 2  and  4  about Venus‘ visibility during time of day and month.

(C): Opposite.  The author makes this point in  Paragraph 1.

(D): Opposite.  The author states this explicitly in  Paragraph 2.

(E): Opposite.  This can be inferred from the information in the passage. The passage states that Venus, known as Hesperus, is brighter than any heavenly object visible from Earth except for the sun and the moon.

Answer: A

SatvikVedala · Answer

Hi  rishabh goel

The option A says " as  Hesperus passes between the sun and Earth, it is globular in form and appears star-like"

so option A states  as  venus passes between the sun and earth => it is globular in form and appears star-like

I suppose this is how we can eliminate option A

Hope this clarifies

-it's Satvik-
I was here, I was solving & I was learning

MickV · Answer

"For now, the evening star—Hesperus, as it was anciently known—is a steadily waning crescent, no matter how star-like or globular its light appears."
 
I simply looked through the text to find the part where it's being indicated that its light being star-like or globular allows us to classify it as an evening star. This, however, is not indicated anywhere, and intuitively it also makes sense, since it would be illogical for a star to be classified as an evening star simply because its light tends have star-like or globular characteristics. Answer A.

AshmitaChak · Answer

I am still having difficulty understanding the 3rd question. Can someone please explain it to me in easier terms?

Sowpat99 · Answer

@GMATNinja , could you please help me out on how to approach this RC set and each question that follows? Also, what is the scope for such passages on the actual test?

miag · Answer

where is it mentioned that venus= hesperus? didnt make that connection  Sajjad1994

injamulhaque · Answer

Why (A) is correct according to the passage:
The passage does not explicitly state that Venus appears "globular" as it passes between the Sun and Earth. Instead, it describes Venus as a steadily waning crescent during this time. The phrase "globular in form" is misleading because Venus does not maintain a fully spherical appearance when observed from Earth—it transitions through different phases, much like the Moon

rationedistinctio · Answer

For question 1, the OA requires external knowledge that Ptolemy is associated with the geocentric view. And to some extent, that Copernicus is associated with heliocentric model.

While this may seem like general knowledge, since we are generally prohibited from bringing in general knowledge into the questions, this should not have been an answer choice.

C has stronger support within the confines of the passage

In Manhattan, the beauty of the night sky is only a faded metaphor, th

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In Manhattan, the beauty of the night sky is only a faded metaphor, th

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