「行星獵人」——尋找另一個地球｜精彩譯文

06-20

"I want to find another Earth. That"s what I"m living for."

"我想尋找另外一個地球。這是我生命的意義所在。」

MIT astrophysicistSara Seager has been looking at planets beyond our solar system, known asexoplanets, for almost 20 years.

麻省理工學院的天體物理學家薩拉·西格近二十年來一直在觀測太陽系以外的行星，即著名的太陽系外行星。

When the first ones were discovered in the 1990s, many questioned the finding and didn"t think it was real. But since then, with better technology, we have observed more than 6,000 of them, most of which are giant balls of gas.

20世紀90年代發現第一批這樣外行星時，很多人對其真實性表示質疑。自那以後，隨著技術的發展，我們已觀測到6000多顆外行星，其中大部分是巨型氣體星球。Today, the list grows every week.今天，觀測到的外行星數目每周都在增加。With so many planets now coming out of hiding, the race is on to identify one that resembles Earth: a rocky world with liquid water just like ours, and suitable to host life.如此之多的行星從未知中冒出來，人們開始爭先恐後地尋找與地球最相似的星球。富含液態水的岩石星球就像地球一樣，適合生物生存。Seager believes she knows how to make that discovery.

西格對於如何探索充滿自信。

10 photos: Weird and wonderful extroplanet十張照片：美妙奇異的系外星球

第一幅

Dwarfing evenJupiter-HD-106906b is a gaseous planet 11 times more massive than Jupiter. The planet is believed to have formed in the center of its solar system, before being sent flying out to the edges of the region by a violentgravitationalevent.

讓木星相形見絀的行星——HD-106906是一顆氣態行星，體積是木星的11倍。由於受到巨大的引力衝擊，HD-106906位於其所在的恆星系統邊緣，然而形成之初，其原始位置應該位於該恆星系統的中心區域。

第二幅

Scorched world- Kepler-10b orbits at a distance more than 20 times closer to its star thanMercuryis to our own sun. Daytime temperatures exceed 1,300 degreesCelsius(2,500 degrees Fahrenheit), which is hotter thanlavaflows on Earth.

熔岩煉獄——開普勒-10距離其母星的距離還不到水星到太陽距離的20分之1。白天溫度超過1300攝氏度（2500華氏度），比地球上熔岩溫度還要高。

第三幅

Real-life Tatooine- This Jupiter-like planet in the HD-188753 system 149 light-years from Earth has three suns. The main star is similar in mass to our own Sun. The system has been compared to Luke Sky walker"s home planet Tatooine in "Star Wars."

真實版「塔圖因」—這顆類似木星的行星位於距地球149光年的-188753系統中，擁有三個「太陽」。主恆星質量與我們的太陽相似。人們將這一系統比做了《星球大戰》中盧克·天行者的故鄉塔圖因星球。

第四幅

Longest year in the universe- Kepler-421b is a Uranus-sized transiting exoplanet with the longest known year, as it circles its star once every 704 days. The planet orbits an oranger, K-type star that is cooler and dimmer than our Sun and is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth in theconstellationLyra.

宇宙中一年時間最長的星球——開普勒421是一顆與冥王星大小相同，擁有凌日現象的系外行星。它的運行周期為704天，是迄今為止人類已知的最長系外行星軌道運動周期。開普勒421圍繞一顆橙色的型恆星運轉，這個恆星的比太陽的溫度和亮度都要低，位於距地球1000光年的天琴座內。

第五幅

Crowed nerghborhood - Astronomers discovered two planets less than three times the size of Earth orbiting sun-like stars in a crowdedstellarcluster approximately 3,000 lght-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

擁擠的周遭——宇航員發現了兩顆大小近地球三倍的行星，其母恆星類似太陽，它們置身於擁擠不堪的行星簇中，在距離地球大約3000光年的天鵝座中靜靜轉動。

第六幅

Red dwarfed - This artist"s conception shows ahypotheticalplanet with two moons orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star. The majority of the sun"s closet stellar neighbors are red dwarfs.

紅矮星——在藝術家的概念里，這顆假想星球的兩條衛星軌道都允許紅矮星圍繞其轉動時處於宜居帶內。距太陽最近的星球中，大多數為紅矮星。

第七幅

First second-Earth - Kepler-186f was the firstvalidatedEarth-sized planet to be found orbiting a distant star in the habitable zone. This zone a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet"s surface.

首顆類地行星——開普勒186是首顆被證實與地球大小類似的在宜居帶內圍繞母恆星運轉的行星。它與恆星之間的距離使行星表面溢出液態水成為可能。

第八幅

Super Venus-Kepler-69c is a super-Earth-size planet similar to Venus. The planet is found in the Habitable zone of a star like our sun, located approximately 2,700 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

超級金星——被稱為「超級地球」的開普勒-69與金星極為相似。該行星處在宜居帶，其母恆星與太陽類似，在距地球2700光年的天鵝座內運行。

第九幅

Tiny worlds- The kepler-444 system formed when the Milky Way was just two billion years old. The tightly packed system is home to five planets that range in size, the smallest is comparable to the size of Mercury and the largest to Venus, orbiting their sun in less than 10 days.

微觀世界——僅僅在銀河系形成20億年時，開普勒—444就誕生了。這一密集的恆星系統擁有五顆行星，按大小排列，最小的和水星差不多，最大的和金星相似，繞恆星轉的運行周期不到10天。

第十幅

Our older cousin- This artistic concept image compares Earth (left) to Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger. Both planets orbit a G2-type star of about the same temperature; however, the star hosting Kepler-452b is6 billion years old--15 billion years older than our sun.

地球的大表哥——這幅作品對地球（左）與開普勒452進行了比較，後者體積為地球的1.6倍。兩顆行星都是圍繞著擁有相似溫度的2類型恆星運行；然而，開普勒452的母恆星形成時間已達60億年——比太陽大1.5億年。New eyes in the sky

天空新「眼」

The majority of exoplanet discoveries have been made by the Kepler space telescope, after which most of them have been named. Launched in 2009, the telescope hasnow entered emergency mode75 million miles away from Earth, due to a malfunction.

大部分系外行星的發現工作都是由開普勒空間望遠鏡完成的，並且都命名為「開普勒……」。開普勒空間望遠鏡於2009年發射，現在由於發生故障已進入應急運行模式，距離地球7500萬英里遠。

To study the atmospheres of potential Earth twins, scientists need new eyes in the sky.

為了研究「地球潛在兄弟」的大氣成分，科學家們需要新的天空之眼。

To date, Seager has only been able to study the atmospheres of a handful of exoplanets -- all gas giants -- but she"s involved in a new NASA program launching in 2017 to just scout the brightest nearby stars for small rocky planets in the habitable zone.

現在，西格能夠研究大氣成分的系外行星屈指可數，而且都是氣態巨行星。不過，美國航天航空局預計於2017年啟動一個新項目，她已參與其中，旨在偵查位於宜居帶的最明亮的近地行星，以找尋小岩態行星。

Called TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), the two-year mission will accumulate data that will then be fed into the James Webb Space Telescope, the next Hubble, which is due to launch in 2018: "It"s going to be amazing," says Seager.

這個兩年計劃簡稱為（TESS，凌日行星調查衛星），旨在收集數據，然後輸入到詹姆斯·韋伯空間望遠鏡中，該望遠鏡預計於2018年發射，是下一個哈勃空間望遠鏡。「這將不同凡響，」西格說道。

TheJames Webb telescope-- named after the head of NASA during the pioneering era of the 1960s -- will look at the cosmos with unprecedented clarity thanks to its use of a primary mirror about five times larger than Hubble"s. It will also offer direct imaging of exoplanets by blocking the blinding light of their host stars with special instruments that make them more visible. This will allow Seager and other astronomers to study exoplanets like never before.

上世紀60年代，美國航天航空局尚處在開拓時期，詹姆斯·韋伯空間望遠鏡就是取名於那時的局長之名。該望遠鏡的主鏡大小是哈勃望遠鏡的5倍，因此能以前所未有的清晰度觀測宇宙。該望遠鏡通過藉助特殊儀器阻擋系外行星的寄主星的刺眼強光，使得系外行星的可見度更高，以提供系外行星的直接成像。藉由此，西格和其他天文學家將能站在一種前所未有的高度研究系外行星。

Seager believes many of the planets in their search will be the rocky, watery worlds she"s been looking for.

西格相信他們研究的許多行星都將是他們一直在尋找的含有液態水的岩態行星。

"I"m absolutely confident they"re out there."

「我堅信他們就在那裡等著我們去發現。

相關單詞學習MITMassachu-setts Institute of Technology麻省理工學院astrophysicist[,?str??"fi?z?s?st]n. 天體物理學家exoplanet[,eks??"pl?n?t]外星行星

gravitational

[,ɡr?v?"te???n?l]adj. [力] 重力的，[力] 引力的Jupiter["d?u?p?t?]n. [天] 木星；朱庇特（羅馬神話中的宙斯神）mercury["m?kj?ri]n. [化]汞，水銀[天]水星lava["lɑ?v?]n. 火山岩漿；火山所噴出的熔岩celsius["sels??s]adj. 攝氏的n. 攝氏度constellation[,k?nst?"le??(?)n]n. [天] 星座；星群；薈萃；興奮叢stellar["stel?]adj. 星的；星球的；主要的；一流的hypothetical[,ha?p?"θet?k(?)l]adj. 假設的；愛猜想的validate["v?l?de?t]

vt. 證實，驗證；確認；使生效

同學們下期見~拜拜~

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