Name: ______Period: ______Date: ______Article of the Week Directions: Read the following article carefully and annotate. You need to include at least 1 annotation per paragraph. Be sure to include all of the following in your total annotations.
Annotation = Marking the Text + A Note of Explanation
1. Great Idea or Point – Write why you think it is a good idea or point – ! 2. Confusing Point or Idea – Write a question to ask that might help you understand – ? 3. Unknown Word or Phrase – Circle the unknown word or phrase, then write what you think it might mean based on context clues or your word knowledge – 4. A Question You Have – Write a question you have about something in the text – ?? 5. Summary – In a few sentences, write a summary of the paragraph, section, or passage – # "Planet Nine": Have astronomers found a huge new world past Pluto? By Scientific American, adapted by Newsela staff 01.25.16
Picture and Caption ______
Paragraph #1 This picture is an artist’s depiction of what "Planet Nine" might look like. The planet is thought to be gaseous, similar to Uranus and Neptune, and in our solar system out ______beyond Pluto. Photo: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC) ______Para #1 In the last 20 years, astronomers have identified about 2,000 new worlds using a telescope in space. These planets ______orbit stars that lie tens or even hundreds of light-years from Earth. These discoveries are important, but no single planet is likely to ______be much of a big deal. The new planet is a very different story. It does not circle a distant star. Instead, it is part of our own solar system, a place you would think we had explored pretty well by Paragraph #2 now. ______
Para #2 ______Evidently not. In a new study, California Institute of Technology planetary scientists Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown say they ______found strong evidence of a very large undiscovered planet. They say the new planet is orbiting in the solar system’s outer darkness ______beyond Pluto. .
Space Orbit Oddities Paragraph #3 Para #3 This new planet could perhaps be 10 times as massive ______as Earth. The scientists think it is out there because they have detected oddities in the orbits of space objects nearby. The ______scientists say they could only be caused by the gravity of a massive planet. The study will be published in The Astronomical ______Journal, a magazine for scientists. ______Para #4 “I haven’t been this excited about something in quite a Paragraph #4 while,” says Greg Laughlin. He is a planetary scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. For the time being, the ______researchers have named it “Planet Nine.” The new planet never comes closer than 30.5 billion or so kilometers (19 billion miles) ______from the sun. Despite its enormous size, if it exists, it would be so dim that it is not surprising that it has not been spotted it yet. ______. ______Para #5 “Sadly,” Brown says, the scientists haven't actually detected it yet. Still, the evidence is strong enough that other Paragraph #5 experts are taking it seriously. “I think it’s pretty convincing,” says Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii. ______
Para #6 Batygin and Brown are not the first to argue for an extra ______planet in our solar system. In 2014, Trujillo and Scott Sheppard, ______of the Carnegie Institution for Science, argued that there might be something planet-sized out there. The theory was based on the ______orbits of a handful of space objects. They seemed to be affected by the gravity of an unseen world. Paragraph #6
What was the central idea of paragraphs 3-6? ______
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Paragraph #7 ______
______A "Crazy" Notion ... ______Para #7 The first thing Batygin and Brown did, Batygin says, was to look at their data with fresh eyes. "This was a case where we ______had our noses buried in the data," Brown says, "never stepping back and looking at the solar system from above." Paragraph #8
______Para #8 The direction of the orbits was an even stronger hint that something was physically moving these distant objects. “At first,” ______Brown says, “we said there can’t be a planet out there — that’s crazy.” However, the only explanation that fit the data was the ______“crazy” notion of a planet. ______
Para #9 The planet that best fits the data would be 10 times as massive as Earth. It would put the new planet in the so-called Paragraph #9 “Super Earth” category. It includes many planets around other stars but none, until now, in our own solar system. The new ______planet would be smaller than Neptune, which is about 17 times ______larger than Earth. The new planet comes within 19 billion miles (35 billion kilometers) of the sun at its closest. At its most distant, ______it would be between three and six times as far away. ______Para #10 Even at that enormous distance, Planet Nine might be ______seen with a telescope. Until then, astronomers cannot say definitely that Planet Nine is actually out there. “I tend to be very Paragraph #10 suspicious of claims of an extra planet in the solar system,” says Hal Levison. He is a scientist with the Southwest Research ______Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The question needs to be further ______explored, he adds. ______… And Perhaps a Thrill ______Para #11 Overall, however, planetary scientists are clearly Paragraph #11 thrilled that we might be close to such a major discovery. “When I was growing up,” Sheppard says, “we thought the big planets ______had all been found. It would be very exciting and very surprising to learn that we were wrong.” ______
Para #12 The mood of the astronomers is captured, Laughlin ______says, by something British astronomer John Herschel said in ______1846. It looked like the gravity of an unknown, massive planet was tugging on the planet Uranus. Paragraph #12
Para #13 “We see it as Columbus saw America from the shores ______of Spain," Herschel said. Just two weeks later, the planet Neptune was discovered, right where the astronomers said it ______should be. ______
Paragraph #13 ______TURN TO BACK PAGE FOR QUESTIONS ______
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Quiz STANDARD 3: PEOPLE, EVENTS, AND IDEAS 1. According to the article, why would the planetary scientists consider the discovery of a new planet a "big deal"?
A) The new planet is more massive than Earth. B) "Planet Nine" would be part of our solar system. C) Viewing the new planet would be exciting. D) We need another planet to make our solar system complete.
STANDARD 3: PEOPLE, EVENTS, AND IDEAS 2. According to the article, with which of the following statements would the British astronomer John Herschel AGREE?
A) Scientists should be suspicious of big discoveries. B) Scientists must always prove their theories. C) Scientists need to be wrong at times. D) Scientists need to keep their eyes open for new evidence.
STANDARD 4: WORD MEANING 3. Read the paragraph from the section "A 'Crazy' Notion." The direction of the orbits was an even stronger hint that something was physically moving these distant objects. “At first,” Brown says, “we said there can’t be a planet out there — that’s crazy.” However, the only explanation that fit the data was the “crazy” notion of a planet. What does the phrase "crazy notion" imply in the sentence?
A) The scientists thought that the idea of a new planet was silly. B) The scientists thought a new planet was unlikely to exist. C) The scientists thought the idea of a new planet was clever. D) The scientists thought that the new planet was real.
STANDARD 5: TEXT STRUCTURE 4. Read the paragraph from the section " ... And Perhaps A Thrill." The mood of the astronomers is captured, Laughlin says, by something British astronomer John Herschel said in 1846. It looked like the gravity of an unknown, massive planet was tugging on the planet Uranus. What is the meaning of the word "captured" as used in this paragraph?
A) Rescued B) Demonstrated C) Changed D) Force