Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage. from astronomy: heavenly creatures 1 we are all of us starstruck from the start, mesmerized by the spangled velvet of the nighttime sky, now longing to pull it close, like a mother, now shrinking beneath its inviolate diamond detachment. soon we are able to pick out at least a few of the easier constellations—certainly the big dipper, maybe the little dipper, too, and boxy orion with his bright belt and sword, and the five - star zigzag of cassiopeia. we learn to distinguish between stars and planets by whether they twinkle or shine, for stars are so distant that they appear as mere points of light in the sky, and that light is easily bent and bobbled by turbulence in our atmosphere, while the planets are close enough that their radiance passes through air with scarcely a diversion or refraction, and so planets will bluntly, unwinkingly shine. indeed, with an ordinary backyard telescope and under the right conditions, you can see the cheeky spheroid faces of our siblings in the solar system—jupiter and its red spot, which is really a giant gaseous hurricane big enough to engulf three earths and which has lasted for at least four hundred years; saturn and its hallmark hula - hoops of ice, dust, and rock; tangerine mars and moon - white venus. but even our most powerful telescopes cannot resolve the disk of an extrasolar star, no matter how massive the star may be: all stars are too far away to be sized and analyzed as anything but points of light. 2 we stare and stare at the night, looking for something, anything, to make sense of the thundering silence—voiceover, pantomime, anagram, vulcan mind meld. cant you just say something? dont you hear us? here we are! and as we stare, we see a streak of light, a wild platinum cat scratching piercing the mute tuxedo screen, and were thrilled, each time, and filled again with goofy hope. a shooting star! i saw a shooting star! did you? well, just keep looking. youll see one, too. oh, we know theyre not stars. they are meteoroids, space debris, the bits of interplanetary rock with which our according to the passage, what role does earths atmosphere play in observations of the night sky? 1. the atmosphere presents a barrier that affects the appearance of light and objects that pass through it. 2. the atmosphere allows people to figure out whether stars are relatively close to earth or extremely distant. 3. the atmosphere intensifies the light coming from distant objects making them appear brighter than they really are. 4. the atmosphere forms a layer around earth that absorbs light from stars and causes the sky to appear black at night.

Explanation:

The passage states that star - light is easily bent and bobbled by turbulence in our atmosphere, while planets' light passes through with little diversion due to refraction. This shows that the atmosphere acts as a barrier affecting the appearance of light and objects passing through it. Option 2 is incorrect as the passage doesn't discuss determining star distances in this way. Option 3 is wrong as there's no mention of the atmosphere intensifying light. Option 4 is not supported as the passage doesn't say the atmosphere makes the sky appear black by absorbing star - light.

Answer:

1. The atmosphere presents a barrier that affects the appearance of light and objects that pass through it.