Life elsewhere – The Hindu (Feb 24, 2017)

Life elsewhere – The Hindu (Feb 24, 2017)

The quest to find life outside the solar system got a big boost with the discovery of seven Earth-size extra-solar planets, or exoplanets, orbiting a dwarf star about 40 light years away. For further reading, visit “The Hindu“.

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Courtesy: The Hindu

Word List-1:

1. exoplanet (noun) – a planet around a star other than the sun.
2. extraterrestrial life (noun) –  alien life; life that exists/originates outside the planet Earth.
3. quest (verb) – search, hunt, pursuit.
4. light year (noun) – a unit of astronomical length/distance equal to the distance that light travels in one year (about 9.46 trillion kilometers).
5. dwarf star (noun) – a star of relatively small size and low brightness.
6. by far (phrase) – considerably, significantly, substantially.
7. habitable (adjective) – fit to live in, inhabitable, liveable in.
8. Goldilocks zone (noun) – it refers to the habitable zone around a star where the temperature is just right – not too hot (i.e. close to a star) and not too cold (i.e. far from a star) – for liquid water to exist on the surface of an planet.
9. transit (verb) – pass through, pass across.
10. planetesimal (adjective) – relating to planetesimals (planetesimal means minute planet; an ultimately small fraction of a planet).
11. apparently (adverb) – seemingly, evidently.
12. migrate (verb) – relocate, resettle, move.
13. Galilean moons (noun) – Jupiter’s largest four moons named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are known as the Galilean moons, all of which were discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.
14. decipher (verb) – make out, interpret, understand/comprehend.
15. rule out (phrasal verb) – exclude, eliminate, reject.
16. volatile (adjective) – evaporative, vaporous; inflammatory.
17. close by (phrase) – very near; nearby.

Note:

1. Click each one of the words above for their definition, more synonyms, pronunciation, example sentences, phrases, derivatives, origin and etc from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/.

2. Definitions (elementary level) & Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press. Tentative definitions/meanings are provided for study purpose only and they may vary in different context. Use it with the corresponding article published on the source (website) via the link provided. 

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