Because of the bright lights of the modern cities, when we look up at the sky we can see no more than 100 stars. But from dark parts of the Earth, the naked eye can see more than 5,000! And modern telescopes tell a very different story.

With the help of some of the world’s most powerful instruments to measure the brightness of all the galaxies in one sector of the cosmos, Australian astronomers say it is probable that there are 70 sextillion stars in the visible Universe. In other words and numbers, seven followed by 22 zeroes, a really astronomical figure.

That is more than the total number of grains of sand in all the world’s beaches and deserts, and that is only the visible Universe within range of our telescopes.

Dr. Simon Driver, of the Australian National University, has a theory that some of them probably have life. Dr. Driver’s theory is not exactly new, and those planets are so distant, he says, that there is no real possibility for us to see or contact anyone living on them.


According to the text, it is correct to say about the linking words “and”, “because of”, “when” (line 2) and “but”, that they respectively:

A- Mean in Portuguese: ‘e’, ‘assim’, ‘entretanto’ and ‘quando’.

B- Have the function to connect ideas, relate cause and effect, establish a time relation and relate opposite ideas.

C- Mean in Portuguese: ‘e’, ‘por causa de’, ‘quando’ and ‘quando’.

D- Have the function of addition, cause and effect, time and conclusion.

E- Have the function of contrast, addition, comparison and time.