Step outside on a clear night and look at the sky. If youre a city

Question

Step outside on a clear night and look at the sky. If you’re a city dweller or live in a cramped suburb, you see dozens, maybe hundreds, of twinkling stars. Depending on the time of the month, you may also see a full Moon and up to five of the eight planets that revolve around the Sun. A shooting star or “meteor” may appear overhead. What you actually see is the flash of light from a tiny piece of comet dust streaking through the upper atmosphere. Another pinpoint of light moves slowly and steadily across the sky. Is it a space satellite, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, or just a high-altitude airliner? If you have a pair of binoculars, you may be able to see the difference. Most airliners have running lights, and their shapes may be perceptible. If you live in the country — on the seashore away from resorts and developments, on the plains, or in the mountains far from any floodlit ski slope — you can see thousands of stars. The Milky Way appears as a beautiful pearly swath across the heavens.  What you’re seeing is the cumulative glow from millions of faint stars, individually indistinguishable with the naked eye.  At a great observation place, such as Cerro Tololo in the Chilean Andes, you can see even more stars. They hang like brilliant lamps in a coal black sky, often not even twinkling, like in van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting.    1 
 1. According to the passage, which of the following places would be the best for an astronomer to live?

(A) Cerro Tololo in the Chilean Andes
(B) A seashore far from resorts and developments
(C) The mountains, away from any floodlit ski slopes
(D) The suburbs of any medium-sized American city
(E) A large city

2 
 2. Which of the following statements most accurately captures the main point of the passage?

(A) Light pollution is ruining stargazing for many Americans.
(B) Satellites and airliners can be differentiated with the use of good binoculars.
(C) The sky is a busy place, and no matter where you watch it from, you can see interesting things.
(D) The Andes Mountains provide unparalleled star-gazing opportunities.
(E) Astrology and astronomy are not the same thing.

3 
 3. According the passage, what might be mistaken for an airliner traveling across the night sky?

(A) A shooting star
(B) The Hubble Space Telescope
(C) One of the planets
(D) A comet
(E) The moon

4 
 4. What role does the sentence  Highlighted ] play in the rest of the passage?

(A) It is the introduction to the passage.
(B) It is one of a list of examples in the passage.
(C) It explains the phenomenon mentioned in the sentence before it.
(D) It is the main idea of the passage.
(E) It is evidence that supports the argument of the passage.

5 
 5. What can you infer about van Gogh’s “Starry Night” from the passage?

(A) “Starry Night” was painted before the arrival of airliners.
(B) “Starry Night” is a painting of comets and meteors.
(C) “Starry Night” may have been painted in an area that the author would deem a “great observation place” like Cerro Tololo.
(D) Van Gogh must have been an amateur astronomer.
(E) “Starry Night” is a realistic painting.

6 
 6. Which of the following most accurately describes the likely intended audience for this passage?

(A) A group of astronomers, interested in sharing their findings from studying the night sky
(B) Amateur astrologers
(C) Students in an intermediate astronomy class at a local college
(D) A group of preschoolers learning the names of the planets
(E) Average adults interested in learning more about the night sky

RC Butler 2022  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 211 Date: 26-May-2022
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2022 .  Click here for Details

Astronomy For Dummies  by Stephen P. Maran

pratiksha1998 · Answer

Can someone explain Question 6?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

6. Which of the following most accurately describes the likely intended audience for this passage?

Explanation

The passage is clearly aimed at people who do not already know quite a bit about the night sky, which eliminates  Choices (A), (B),  and  (C) . The students mentioned in  Choice (D)  are too young to understand language of this complexity, so  Choice (E)  makes the most sense.

Answer: E

sirohi680 · Answer

5. What can you infer about van Gogh’s “Starry Night” from the passage?

(A) “Starry Night” was painted before the arrival of airliners.
(B) “Starry Night” is a painting of comets and meteors.
(C) “Starry Night” may have been painted in an area that the author would deem a “great observation place” like Cerro Tololo.
(D) Van Gogh must have been an amateur astronomer.
(E) “Starry Night” is a realistic painting.

How come option C is correct as . 
At a great observation place, such as Cerro Tololo in the Chilean Andes, you can see even more stars. They hang like brilliant lamps in a coal black sky, often not even twinkling, like in van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting

means van gogh stars are twinkling and Cerro Tololo stars aren't ....( hang like brilliant lamps )

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

5. What can you infer about van Gogh’s “Starry Night” from the passage?

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

Choice (C)  is the best inference of those offered here because it connects to the text of the passage.  “Starry Night”  is mentioned as depicting a scene that is similar to what one might see at a place like Cerro Tololo, so  Choice (C)  makes sense.

Answer: C

Divyansh23 · Answer

I also got a little confused with this question, but if you see again, the phrase "often not even twinkling" is written between 2 commas, and thus it doesn't provide essential information in the sentence. Thus "Like in Van Gogh's painting..." is actually compared with the night sky seen at Cerro Tololo.

Step outside on a clear night and look at the sky. If youre a city

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Step outside on a clear night and look at the sky. If youre a city

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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