Question 143
MediumOriginal questionFor all its importance to life on Earth, the Sun is hard to watch without a break. From the ground, night hides it for half of every day, clouds hide it often, and our own blocks some of the light that scientists most want to study. Even a satellite circling the Earth passes behind the planet again and again.
Aditya-L1, launched by a PSLV rocket on 2 September 2023, was India's answer to this problem, and the country's first space mission to study the Sun. It was not sent to the Sun itself. Instead it was sent to a point in space called Lagrange point 1, or L1, which lies between the Earth and the Sun, about 1.5 million km from the Earth. There the pulls of the two bodies balance in such a way that a spacecraft can stay the Earth as the Earth travels round the Sun.
In January 2024 the spacecraft settled into a looping path, called a halo orbit, around L1. From there, nothing ever comes between it and the Sun: no night, no cloud and no . It can watch the Sun without .
Why is a satellite circling the Earth less useful for watching the Sun without a break?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The first paragraph says such a satellite "passes behind the planet again and again".
Each time it does, the Earth blocks its view of the Sun.
Worth noting
Clouds are one of the problems for watchers on the ground. A satellite is above the clouds.
- Concept
- Connecting a problem to its cause in the passage
- Typical timeTypical
- 45 s
- Your timeYours
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