SUMMARY WRITING - EXERCISE 1 (Individual / Pair) Source: READY TO WRITE MORE FROM PARAGRAPH TO ESSAY (2nd Edition) page

e 145 INSTRUCTIONS: READ THE ARTICLE NEW PLANET MAY SUPPORT LIFE AND COMPLETE THE GUIDED SUMMARY THAT FOLLOWS. NEW PLANT MAY SUPPORT LIFE by David L. Chandler San Antonio- Astronomers announced to stunned colleagues yesterday the first discovery of a planet outside the solar system that may be capable of supporting life. The finding brings humankind to a gateway to a new era in science, said Geoffrey W. Marcy, an astronomer at San Francisco State University and one of the two scientists who reported finding the planet. We now know, he said, that the Earth has cousins in other solar systems. Planets arent rare, after all. The discovery of the planet, in the constellation of Virgo, culminates centuries of speculation and years of searching that produced a few intriguing results but never any sign of a planet resembling those in the solar system. The planet, more than six times the size of Jupiter, orbits a star called 70 Virgins, which is almost a twin of the sun. And the planets distance from that star-less than half the earths distance from the sunsuggests that it is likely to have a surface temperature of about 185 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that liquid water, the basis of all life as we know it, could exist there. The find was one of two, and possibly three, planets outside the solar system whose discoveries were reported here yesterday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The first confirmed sighting of a planet outside the solar system was announced by a Swiss team only three months ago. The exciting thing is that we found a planet where water could exist, said NASA administrator Daniel Goldin, who has made searching for other planets and indications of possible life elsewhere a top priority for the space agency. On Earth, wherever we find water, we find life. Robert Brown, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a specialist in planet formation, said, What we are seeing here is the culmination of 500 years of intellectual history that began when Copernicus found that Earth was not the center of the universe. (Source: Boston Globe, January 18, 1996) In New Planet may Support Life (Boston Globe, January 18, 1996), Geoffrey W. Marcy, an astronomer at San Francisco reports that the first discovery made by astronomers of a planet outside the solar system that might be able to support life. This planet is discovered in the constellation of Virgo. As the planet probably has a surface temperature of 185 degrees Fahrenheit , experts believe it could have liquid water, the basis of all life. Scientists are very excited about this discovery because they have found a planet where water could exist .