Direction (Qs.1 to 10): Read the following passage carefully and answers the questions given below it. Certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

Astrologers habitually prone to goof-ups now have an excuse for why their predictions have been going haywire: the emergence of newer and newer planets that have caused their calculations to go awry. For the international team of astronomers who recently discovered eight new planets, the new arrivals are, however, a cause for excitement. Indeed, even as the rest of the world continues to be consumed by a morbid passion for shiny new war machines, deadly chemicals and sinister war tactics, astronomers have been doggedly searching the heavens for more heavenly bodies in the belief that the search will take us closer to a more exalted goal – that of knowing the truth about us and the universe. “Reality is much bigger than it seems the part we call the universe is the merest tip of the iceberg”, one scientist remarked. How true. In the beginning sceptics wouldn’t accept that the earth actually moves, let alone that it revolves around the sun because of an unshaken belief that the earth was the centre of the universe. We’ve come a long way. Today, scientists have spotted nearly 80 extra-solar planets using sophisticated instruments.

What’s more, our universe may not be the only universe in the cosmos; there could well be several parallel universes teeming with many galaxies, solar systems and planets, although none of this may be perceptible to the naked eye. Perhaps sages who say that truth is not easily perceptible, mean just this – that what is evidently before us is not the whole truth. Scientists say that “everything in the tangible universe has its shadowy counterparts in other, parallel universes”.

In fact, it is by observing the play of cosmic light and shadow through powerful devices that scientists have been able to ‘feel’ shapes or ‘see’ shadows that indicate the existence of other heavenly bodies without actually seeing them. The international team of scientists involved in the present discovery conducted their search through telescopes in Australia, Belgium, UK and the US. Two of the newly discovered eight planets, are believed to have circular orbits very like the Earth’s, while the others have well-defined elliptical orbits much like Pluto’s. This is significant because a planet with a circular orbit would more likely be hospitable to life forms than would one with an elliptical orbit. In the latter, the planet experiences extreme temperatures depending on whether it is proximate to or distant from the energy-giving star it’s circumambulating. As in the case of other recent discoveries – such as finding traces of microbes in a meteorite – this too strengthens the belief that we’re not alone in the universe.

So, would we be exchanging inter galactic e-mails soon? Perhaps not yet, given that our closest neighbouring galaxy is millions of light years away. What is within our immediate grasp, though, is exploring the viability of establishing human settlements in space – an Endeavour that has assumed urgency what with biological terrorism and the like threatening humankind on earth. As Stephen hawking recently said, “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet”.