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Verbal·Expression of Ideas·Rhetorical Synthesis

hard

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Saturn has 146 moons, including Hyperion and Prometheus.
• Hyperion completes an orbit of Saturn in 21.28 Earth days on average.
• Prometheus completes an orbit of Saturn in 0.61 Earth days on average.
• German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) described the orbits of planets as elliptical in shape rather than circular.
• Kepler published three laws of planetary motion to describe the orbits of planets around the Sun.
• Kepler’s laws also apply to the elliptical orbits of natural satellites (e.g., moons).

The student wants to contrast the orbits of the two moons. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A

Saturn’s moons, specifically Hyperion and Prometheus, orbit their planet in the same way the planets orbit the Sun.

B

Hyperion’s orbit of Saturn is elliptical in shape and takes, on average, 21.28 Earth days, while Prometheus’s orbit of Saturn is circular in shape and takes, on average, 0.61 Earth days.

C

Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of planets and natural satellites, including those of Hyperion and Prometheus.

D

Prometheus completes its orbit of Saturn many times faster than Hyperion does.