Venus in Transit - IELTS Reading Sample with Explanation
The reading section is the second task of IELTS. The reading proficiency of candidates is tested in this section of IELTS. Candidates will be given a sample reading passage, and based on the passage they will have to answer different types of questions. This IELTS Reading sample - Venus in transit contains three question types:
- Matching Headings
- True/False/Not Given
- Choose One Word Answer
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Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Venus in Transit IELTS Reading Sample
June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a ‘transit’ of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest Explain.
A
On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world was treated to a rare astronomical event. For over six hours, the planet Venus readily inched its way over the surface of the sun. This “transit” of Venus was the first since 6 December 1882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at a girl’s school, where-if is alleged-the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations.
B
For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe. And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November, 1677 Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific. He realized that from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Sun’s disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers would calculate the parallax angle- the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observer’s position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was the ultimate goal; the distance of the Earth from the sun. Tis distance is known as ‘Astronomical Unit’ or ‘AU’
C
Haley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets around the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realized that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Sun’s distance to 1 part in 500. But there was a problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of Mercury, are rare, occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 – though he didn’t survive to see either.
D
Inspired by Halley’s suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia.
But things weren't helped by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil. He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit - but the ship's pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after traveling nearly 50,000 kilometers, his view was clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience.
E
While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow, the measurements were dogged by the ‘black drop’ effect. When Venus begins to cross the Sun’s disc, it looks smeared, not circular – which makes it difficult to establish timings. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Sun’s disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings.
FBut astronomers labored hard to analyze the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Jonathan Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements : 153340,000 km.
Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today's value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy. The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today The parallax principle can be extended to
measure the distances to the stars. If we look at a star in January - when Earth is at one point in its orbit - it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later. Knowing the width of Earth's orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance.
G
June 2004’s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos-detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.
Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-4
The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
Question 1: What are the examples of different ways through which the parallax principle has been applied?
Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars.
Keywords: different ways, parallax principle, applied
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 6-7
Explanation: In para F, the writer tries to highlight that the Parax principle has been applied using several ways, but astronomers labeled it hard to analyze. Therefore parallax measurements are equal in different ways and it is equal to the parallax principle applied
Read More IELTS Reading Related Samples
Question 2: What is the event that prevented a transit observation?
Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit - but the ship’s pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations.
Keyword: event, prevented, transit observation
Keyword Location: Paragraph D para2 line 2-4
Explanation: Look into the last line of paragraph D and here candidates can be observed that after traveling 50,000 kilometers the view was clouded at the last moment. Hence the view of clouds at the last moment is considered as equal to the events which prevent the observation.
Question 3: Which events prevented a transit observation?
Answer: G
Supporting Sentence: But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos - detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.
Keyword: event, prevented, transit observation
Keyword Location: Paragraph G line 2-3
Explanation: Pave the way is considered as equal to the leading on from might proved equal to the future breakthroughs is equal to the discoveries
Question 4: Write a statement about potential future discoveries leading on from transit observations?
Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings.
Keywords: event, prevented, transit observation
Keyword Location: Paragraph E line 5-6
Explanation: The above supporting sentence states that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases.
Questions 5-9
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage A-G?
Write your answer in boxes 5-9 on your answer sheet,
TRUE: if the statement agrees with the given information
FALSE: if the statement does not agree with the given information
NOT GIVEN: if there is no information on the given statement available in the passage
Question 5: Halley observed one transit of the planet Venus.
Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: Though he didn’t survive to see either.
Keyword: Halley, observed, transit, planet, Venus
Keyword Location: Paragraph C last second line
Explanation: These line helps to understand that Halley predicts the transit of venus but he was not able to observe any transit because he has died before that
Question 6: Le Gentil managed to observe a second Venus transit.
Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: his view was clouded out at the last moment
Keywords: Le, Gentil, observe, Venus, transit.
Keyword Location: Paragraph D last second line
Explanation: These line helps to understand that Le Gentil was not able to observe the Venus transit in the Philippines due to the thickness of the clouds
Question 7: The shape of Venus appears distorted when it starts to pass in front of the Sun.
Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: When Venus begins to cross the Sun’s disc, it looks smeared not circular - which makes it difficult to establish timings.
Keywords: Shape of Venus, appears, distorted, starts to pass, Sun.
Keyword Location: Paragraph E line 1-3
Explanation: Pass in front of the sun is equal to the cross the sun disc disclosed is equal to the smeared not circular
Question 8: Early astronomers suspected that the atmosphere on Venus was toxic.
Answer: Not Given
Question 9: The parallax principle allows astronomers to work out how far away distant stars are from the Earth.
Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: the parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars.
Keywords: parallax, principle, astronomers, far away, distant, stars, Earth.
Keyword Location: Paragraph F line 6-7
Explanation: Parax principle can be used to measure the distance between different stars on the earth
Questions 10-13
Look at the following statements (Questions 10-13) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A,B, C or D.
Write the correct letter A, B, C or D. in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.
List of People
- Edmond Halley
- Johannes Kepler
- Guillaume Le Gentil
- Jonathan Franz Encke
Question 10: He calculated the distance of the Sun from the Earth based on observations of Venus with a fair degree of accuracy.
Answer: Johann Franz Encke
Supporting Sentence: Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today’s value
Keyword: calculated, a distance of the Sun, Earth, observations, Venus, degree, accuracy.
Keyword Location: Paragraph F line 2-5
Explanation: Fair degree of accuracy is equal to reasonable accuracy so, in the perspective, AU is equal to the distance of the earth from the sun.
Question 11: He understood that the distance of the Sun from the Earth could be worked out by comparing observations of a transit.
Answer: Edmond Halley
Supporting Sentence: By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle - the apparent difference in the position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observer’s position.
Keywords: distance, Sun, Earth, comparing observations, transit.
Keyword Location: Paragraph B line 5-9
Explanation: In paragraph B we found that Edmond Halley's observation of the transit could help to find out the distance between the earth and the sun.
Question 12: He realized that the time taken by a planet to go round the Sun depends on its distance from the Sun.
Answer: Johannes Kepler
Supporting Sentence: Rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations.
Keyword: time taken, planet, round, Sun, depends, distance, Sun.
Keyword Location: Paragraph D para 2 line 2-3
Explanation: Johannes Kepler realizes the timing of the orbit done by the planet around the sun.
Question 13: He witnessed a Venus transit but was unable to make any calculations.
Answer: Guillaume Le Gentil
Supporting Sentence: Rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations.
Keywords: Venus, transit, calculations.
Keyword Location: Paragraph D para 2 line 2-3
Explanation: Johannes Kepler realizes the timing of the orbit done by the planet around the sun.
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