Dr. Khan: Professor Burns recognizes that recent observations fail to confirm earlier ones that apparently showed a c...

SamA on October 31, 2019

Hello @xDaltonLaney,

Premise: Earlier observations apparently showed a comet reservoir in our solar system.

Premise: Recent observations failed to confirm this sighting.

Prof. Burns: failure to confirm this sighting shows that the earlier observations were incorrect (there is no comet reservoir).

Premise: The recent observations occurred under poor conditions.

This is the information we need to consider. Which answer choice is most supported by Khan's statements?

A. We cannot say for certain what would have happened if the conditions were good. We need a statement that is supported by the information above.

B. Incorrect. This directly contradicts the information above. It is not supported by the passage.

C. What are the problems with the recent observations? First, failure to confirm is not the same as evidence against a comet reservoir. Second, the recent observations occurred under poor conditions, making this claim even weaker. Dr. Khan is suggesting that Prof. Burns is incorrect. C is the right answer.

D. Again, we do not have information to say what would have happened under good conditions. Stick to the information in the passage.

E. We don't know that they are totally worthless, but rather they are not sufficient evidence against the comet reservoir.