--- title: Exoplanets and the search for life — how Mova does on the tests · Space description: Lesson 26 of the space course of Mova's primary school: 5 of 11 tests right, exam 3 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/) / 26 # Exoplanets and the search for life **Tests:** 5 of 11 right · **Exam:** 3 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★ · **Understood:** 11 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 26 of the space course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/). ### Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t1} Ruby saw a video saying "scientists found aliens on an exoplanet last week". What is true? - **1.** Yes, SETI got a clear message from aliens in 2019 — no support - **2.** No life has been confirmed anywhere beyond Earth — **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **3.** Yes, aliens live on Kepler-16b — no support - **4.** Yes, life was found on TRAPPIST-1 — **← Mova's choice** · score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 26, line 5: «So far no life has been found beyond Earth, but scientists keep looking, on far-off planets and on icy moons in our own solar system.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «find» (+3); the same thing acted on «life» (+3). The right option, 2, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★ · right ✓ {#t2} Why can't we just take photos of most exoplanets? - **1.** They are tiny and faint beside their bright stars — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** They are hidden behind black holes that swallow their light — no support - **3.** They only come out in the daytime, when the sky is too bright — no support - **4.** They are invisible to all telescopes, even the biggest ones — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t3} A telescope sees a star dim slightly every 3 days. What might be happening? - **1.** The star is moving away from us and back again — score 5 - **2.** Clouds on Earth happen to pass over the telescope every 3 days — score 5 - **3.** A planet passes in front of it every 3 days — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** The star switches itself off for a short rest every 3 days — **← Mova's choice** · score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 6: «A light year is a distance, not a time: it is how far light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion kilometres.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «star» (+4); the same thing acted on «light» (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} A planet is so close to its star that water boils away. Is it in the Goldilocks zone? - **1.** Yes, any planet near a star is — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 - **2.** Yes, boiling water is perfect for life — score 6 - **3.** No, it is too hot — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** No, it is too cold — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 14, line 8: «Uranus was the first planet discovered with a telescope, found by William Herschel in Bath, England, in 1781.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «uranus» (+4); the same thing acted on «first planet» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t5} In Star Wars, Luke watches two suns set on Tatooine. Could a real planet have two suns? - **1.** No, planets can only orbit one star — **← Mova's choice** · score 10 - **2.** Yes, like Kepler-16b found in 2011 — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Only in our own solar system — score 4 - **4.** No, two suns would always crash — score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 26, line 6: «An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun, and more than 6,000 have been confirmed, a number still rising.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «planet» (+4); the same action «orbit» (+3); the same thing acted on «star» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t6} Why do scientists look under the ice of Europa and Enceladus? - **1.** They are made of pure gold — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The ice is full of fossils — no support - **3.** They are the hottest moons — no support - **4.** Hidden oceans there might hold life — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t7} a hot Jupiter's year is like 4 days?? how - **1.** It spins very fast on its axis, so each year is only a few days — score 2 - **2.** It orbits very close to its star, so the trip round is short — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 - **3.** Its star moves round it — score 4 - **4.** Days are longer there — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 8, line 2: «It is about half the Earth's width, and its day is almost like ours, only 40 minutes longer, but its thin air is mostly carbon dioxide and it is far colder tha…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «day» (+4); the same property (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 2, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★ · right ✓ {#t8} Which is true about SETI? - **1.** It has never found a confirmed alien signal — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** It found a signal in 1995 that was proved alien — no support - **3.** It talks with aliens every week — no support - **4.** It looks for life with microscopes — no support **Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★ · right ✓ {#t9} Your friend thinks all the exoplanets were found by spacecraft flying to them. What is right? - **1.** Astronauts saw them through windows — no support - **2.** Telescopes found them from afar, often by the dimming of stars — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **3.** Yes, rockets have flown to every one of them and sent back photos — no support - **4.** They were all found by one probe — score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 26, line 8: «Most exoplanets have been found by the transit method: a star dims slightly when a planet passes in front of it.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «find» (+3); the same thing acted on «most exoplanets» (+3). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★ · right ✓ {#t10} If a planet sat too far from its star in the cold edge of its system, what would its water likely be? - **1.** Frozen — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** Turned into gold — no support - **3.** Liquid like on Earth — no support - **4.** Boiling — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★ · right ✓ {#t11} TESS has searched almost the whole sky since 2018. What is it looking for? - **1.** Exoplanets passing in front of their stars — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **2.** Space junk around Earth — no support - **3.** Comets about to hit Earth — no support - **4.** Black holes in the galaxy's centre — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 9: «NASA's Kepler telescope, working from 2009 to 2018, found thousands of exoplanets, and TESS has searched almost the whole sky since 2018 for more planets passi…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «pass» (+3); the same place «front» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/t11/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the term exoplanet? - **1.** A planet expelled from the solar system — no support - **2.** A star without any planets — **← Mova's choice** · score 4 - **3.** A moon orbiting a giant planet — no support - **4.** A planet orbiting a star other than the Sun — **✓ the right answer** · score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 26, line 8: «Most exoplanets have been found by the transit method: a star dims slightly when a planet passes in front of it.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «star» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 4. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2} Ascertain the method by which the majority of exoplanets have been discovered. - **1.** Direct photography of each planet with large telescopes — no support - **2.** The detection of artificial radio signals — no support - **3.** Visits by crewed spacecraft — no support - **4.** The transit method, a slight dimming of the star — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 8: «Most exoplanets have been found by the transit method: a star dims slightly when a planet passes in front of it.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «dim» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3} Identify the region around a star within which liquid water could exist on the surface of a planet. - **1.** The habitable or Goldilocks zone — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **2.** The asteroid belt — no support - **3.** The corona — no support - **4.** The event horizon — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 26, line 11: «The habitable or "Goldilocks" zone is the band around a star where a planet could have liquid water on its surface, not too hot and not too cold.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «habitable zone» (+4); the same property (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4} Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the search for life beyond the Earth. - **1.** Life has been confirmed on TRAPPIST-1 — score 6 - **2.** A radio message from aliens has been confirmed by SETI — no support - **3.** Microbial life has been confirmed on Mars — score 6 - **4.** No life has yet been confirmed beyond the Earth — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 10 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 10, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 26, line 17: «No life of any kind has yet been confirmed anywhere beyond Earth.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same action «confirm» (+3); the same thing acted on «life» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/26-exoplanets-and-the-search-for-life/e4/) - ← previous: [25. Black holes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/25-black-holes/) - next →: [27. Telescopes and light](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/27-telescopes-and-light/) - ↑ back to [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/)