Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage.
from calibration: playing with scales
1
to gain a richer sense of cosmic proportions, we can paraphrase william
blake, and see the earth as a fine grain of sand. the sun, then, would be an
orange - sized object twenty feet away, while jupiter, the biggest planet of the
solar system, would be a pebble eighty - four feet in the other direction—almost
the length of a basketball court—and the outermost orbs of the solar system,
neptune and pluto, would be larger and smaller grains, respectively, found at a
distance of two and a quarter blocks from granule earth. beyond that, the
gaps between scenic vistas become absurd, and its best to settle in for a nice,
comfy coma. assuming our little artery of a solar system is tucked into a quiet
neighborhood in newark, new jersey, you wont reach the next stars—the
alpha centauri triple star system—until somewhere just west of omaha, or the
star after that until the foothills of the rockies. and in between astronomical
objects is lots and lots of space, silky, sullen, inky - dinky space, plenty of
nothing, nulls within voids. just as the dominion of the very small, the interior
of the atom, is composed almost entirely of empty space, so, too, is the
kingdom of the heavens. nature, it seems, adores a vacuum.
2
\the universe is a pretty empty place, and thats something most people
dont get,\ said michael brown of caltech. \you go watch star wars, and you
see the heroes flying through an asteroid belt, and theyre twisting and turning
nonstop to avoid colliding with asteroids.\ in reality, he said, when the galileo
spacecraft flew through our solar systems asteroid belt in the early 1990s,
nasa spent millions of dollars in a manic effort to steer the ship close enough
to one of the rubble rocks to take photos and maybe sample a bit of its dust.
\and when they got lucky and the spacecraft actually passed by two asteroids,
it was considered truly amazing,\ said brown. \for most of galileos journey,
there was nothing. nothing to see, nothing to take pretty pictures of. and were
talking about the solar system, which is a fairly dense region of the universe.\
what are two central ideas of the passage?

1. the universe is mostly empty space.
2. each galaxy contains billions of stars.
3. galaxies may collide with one another.
4. the solar system is one of the densest parts of

the universe.

1. the size of the universe is nearly impossible to

comprehend.

Explanation:

1. For option 1: The passage states "And in between astronomical objects is lots and lots of space... Just as the dominion of the very small... is composed almost entirely of empty space, so, too, is the kingdom of the heavens", supporting that the universe is mostly empty space.
2. For option 4: The passage says "we're talking about the solar system, which is a fairly dense region of the universe", and the descriptions of distances between celestial objects imply the solar system is dense compared to other parts of the universe.
3. Option 2: The passage does not discuss the number of stars in each galaxy.
4. Option 3: The passage has no mention of galaxy collisions.
5. Option 5: While the universe is large, the passage focuses more on the emptiness and solar system density rather than the incomprehensibility of its size.

Answer:

1. The universe is mostly empty space.
2. The solar system is one of the densest parts of the universe.