hard · SAT Reading & Writing
A team of astronomers discovered a rocky exoplanet orbiting a small, cool star. While the planet is within the star's 'habitable zone'—the region where liquid water could exist—the planet is tidally locked, meaning one side always faces the star and the other always faces away. The researchers hypothesized that while the day side would be too hot and the night side too cold for life, a stable climate might exist in the 'terminator line,' the narrow band of twilight between the two hemispheres.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
- This region could support liquid water by maintaining temperatures through continuous circulation of atmospheric heat.
- The planet is likely to be the most habitable world ever discovered outside of our own solar system.
- The tidal locking of the planet is a phenomenon that only occurs around stars that are significantly smaller than the Sun.
- Liquid water cannot possibly exist on any exoplanet that does not possess a twenty-four-hour day-night cycle.
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