full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alan Stern: The journey to Pluto, the farthest world ever explored

Unscramble the Blue Letters


On July 4, 2015, a NASA sacfcearpt claled New Horizons was 5 billion kotmleries away from Earth. It was only 10 days away from Pluto, after flying for 9.5 years, when it suddenly dropped out of contact.

But let’s back up a little. As of 1989, mankind had successfully sent craft to every known planet in the solar system except one—Pluto. You may have heard that anretoomsrs don’t consider Pluto or its brethren to be planets. However, most planetary scientists still do, which is why we're using that terminology here. There’s a liitmed amount we can lraen about Pluto from Earth because it’s so far from us. ptulo, however, is a scientific goldmine. It’s located in a region called the Kuiper Belt, home to many small planets, hundreds of thousands of ancient icy oetcbjs, and trillions of cmtoes. This mysterious region holds clues to the formation of our solar system, and it was long, tantalizingly beyond our reach.

Open Cloze


On July 4, 2015, a NASA __________ ______ New Horizons was 5 billion __________ away from Earth. It was only 10 days away from Pluto, after flying for 9.5 years, when it suddenly dropped out of contact.

But let’s back up a little. As of 1989, mankind had successfully sent craft to every known planet in the solar system except one—Pluto. You may have heard that ___________ don’t consider Pluto or its brethren to be planets. However, most planetary scientists still do, which is why we're using that terminology here. There’s a _______ amount we can _____ about Pluto from Earth because it’s so far from us. _____, however, is a scientific goldmine. It’s located in a region called the Kuiper Belt, home to many small planets, hundreds of thousands of ancient icy _______, and trillions of ______. This mysterious region holds clues to the formation of our solar system, and it was long, tantalizingly beyond our reach.

Solution


  1. learn
  2. called
  3. astronomers
  4. objects
  5. kilometers
  6. pluto
  7. spacecraft
  8. limited
  9. comets

Original Text


On July 4, 2015, a NASA spacecraft called New Horizons was 5 billion kilometers away from Earth. It was only 10 days away from Pluto, after flying for 9.5 years, when it suddenly dropped out of contact.

But let’s back up a little. As of 1989, mankind had successfully sent craft to every known planet in the solar system except one—Pluto. You may have heard that astronomers don’t consider Pluto or its brethren to be planets. However, most planetary scientists still do, which is why we're using that terminology here. There’s a limited amount we can learn about Pluto from Earth because it’s so far from us. Pluto, however, is a scientific goldmine. It’s located in a region called the Kuiper Belt, home to many small planets, hundreds of thousands of ancient icy objects, and trillions of comets. This mysterious region holds clues to the formation of our solar system, and it was long, tantalizingly beyond our reach.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
billion kilometers 2
solar system 2
kuiper belt 2
sputnik planitia 2


Important Words


  1. amount
  2. ancient
  3. astronomers
  4. belt
  5. billion
  6. brethren
  7. called
  8. clues
  9. comets
  10. contact
  11. craft
  12. days
  13. dropped
  14. earth
  15. flying
  16. formation
  17. goldmine
  18. heard
  19. holds
  20. home
  21. horizons
  22. hundreds
  23. icy
  24. july
  25. kilometers
  26. kuiper
  27. learn
  28. limited
  29. located
  30. long
  31. mankind
  32. mysterious
  33. nasa
  34. objects
  35. planet
  36. planetary
  37. planets
  38. pluto
  39. reach
  40. region
  41. scientific
  42. scientists
  43. small
  44. solar
  45. spacecraft
  46. successfully
  47. suddenly
  48. system
  49. tantalizingly
  50. terminology
  51. thousands
  52. trillions
  53. years