diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RamUsageEstimator.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RamUsageEstimator.java
index 377db0f85b2..eaf23dd2bdf 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RamUsageEstimator.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RamUsageEstimator.java
@@ -37,10 +37,10 @@ public final class RamUsageEstimator {
    * JVM diagnostic features.
    */
   public static enum JvmFeature {
-    OBJECT_REFERENCE_SIZE("Object reference size estimated using array index scale."),
-    ARRAY_HEADER_SIZE("Array header size estimated using array based offset."),
-    FIELD_OFFSETS("Shallow instance size based on field offsets."),
-    OBJECT_ALIGNMENT("Object alignment retrieved from HotSpotDiagnostic MX bean.");
+    OBJECT_REFERENCE_SIZE("Object reference size estimated using array index scale"),
+    ARRAY_HEADER_SIZE("Array header size estimated using array based offset"),
+    FIELD_OFFSETS("Shallow instance size based on field offsets"),
+    OBJECT_ALIGNMENT("Object alignment retrieved from HotSpotDiagnostic MX bean");
 
     public final String description;
 
@@ -219,17 +219,11 @@ public final class RamUsageEstimator {
         beanClazz
       );
       final Method getVMOptionMethod = beanClazz.getMethod("getVMOption", String.class);
-      try {
-        final Object vmOption = getVMOptionMethod.invoke(hotSpotBean, "ObjectAlignmentInBytes");
-        objectAlignment = Integer.parseInt(
-            vmOption.getClass().getMethod("getValue").invoke(vmOption).toString()
-        );
-        supportedFeatures.add(JvmFeature.OBJECT_ALIGNMENT);
-      } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
-        if (!(ite.getCause() instanceof IllegalArgumentException))
-          throw ite;
-        // ignore the error completely and use default of 8 (32 bit JVMs).
-      }
+      final Object vmOption = getVMOptionMethod.invoke(hotSpotBean, "ObjectAlignmentInBytes");
+      objectAlignment = Integer.parseInt(
+          vmOption.getClass().getMethod("getValue").invoke(vmOption).toString()
+      );
+      supportedFeatures.add(JvmFeature.OBJECT_ALIGNMENT);
     } catch (Exception e) {
       // Ignore.
     }
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRamUsageEstimator.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRamUsageEstimator.java
index 862313aa52a..a19c5a70318 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRamUsageEstimator.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/util/TestRamUsageEstimator.java
@@ -89,10 +89,16 @@ public class TestRamUsageEstimator extends LuceneTestCase {
   public void testReferenceSize() {
     if (!isSupportedJVM()) {
       System.err.println("WARN: Your JVM does not support certain Oracle/Sun extensions.");
-      System.err.println("      Memory estimates may be inaccurate.");
-      System.err.println("      Please report this to the Lucene mailing list. JVM version: " + RamUsageEstimator.JVM_INFO_STRING);
+      System.err.println(" Memory estimates may be inaccurate.");
+      System.err.println(" Please report this to the Lucene mailing list.");
+      System.err.println("JVM version: " + RamUsageEstimator.JVM_INFO_STRING);
+      System.err.println("UnsupportedFeatures:");
       for (JvmFeature f : RamUsageEstimator.getUnsupportedFeatures()) {
-        System.err.println("      - " + f.toString());
+        System.err.print(" - " + f.toString());
+        if (f == RamUsageEstimator.JvmFeature.OBJECT_ALIGNMENT) {
+          System.err.print("; Please note: 32bit Oracle/Sun VMs don't allow exact OBJECT_ALIGNMENT retrieval, this is a known issue.");
+        }
+        System.err.println();
       }
     }