“行星猎人”——寻找另一个地球｜精彩译文

YJN99 2016-10-29

展开全文

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

'我想寻找另外一个地球。这是我生命的意义所在。”

MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager has been looking at planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets, for almost 20 years.

麻省理工学院的天体物理学家萨拉·西格近二十年来一直在观测太阳系以外的行星，即著名的太阳系外行星。

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世纪90年代发现第一批这样外行星时，很多人对其真实性表示质疑。自那以后，随着技术的发展，我们已观测到6000多颗外行星，其中大部分是巨型气体星球。

Today, the list grows every week.

今天，观测到的外行星数目每周都在增加。

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.

如此之多的行星从未知中冒出来，人们开始争先恐后地寻找与地球最相似的星球。富含液态水的岩石星球就像地球一样，适合生物生存。

Seager believes she knows how to make that discovery.

西格对于如何探索充满自信。

10 photos: Weird and wonderful extroplanet

十张照片：美妙奇异的系外星球

第一幅

Dwarfing even Jupiter-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 violent gravitational event.

让木星相形见绌的行星——HD-106906是一颗气态行星，体积是木星的11倍。由于受到巨大的引力冲击，HD-106906位于其所在的恒星系统边缘，然而形成之初，其原始位置应该位于该恒星系统的中心区域。

第二幅

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

熔岩炼狱——开普勒-10距离其母星的距离还不到水星到太阳距离的20分之1。白天温度超过1300摄氏度（2500华氏度），比地球上熔岩温度还要高。

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.'

真实版“塔图因”—这颗类似木星的行星位于距地球149光年的-188753系统中，拥有三个“太阳”。主恒星质量与我们的太阳相似。人们将这一系统比做了《星球大战》中卢克·天行者的故乡塔图因星球。

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 the constellation Lyra.

宇宙中一年时间最长的星球——开普勒421是一颗与冥王星大小相同，拥有凌日现象的系外行星。它的运行周期为704天，是迄今为止人类已知的最长系外行星轨道运动周期。开普勒421围绕一颗橙色的型恒星运转，这个恒星的比太阳的温度和亮度都要低，位于距地球1000光年的天琴座内。

第五幅

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

拥挤的周遭——宇航员发现了两颗大小近地球三倍的行星，其母恒星类似太阳，它们置身于拥挤不堪的行星簇中，在距离地球大约3000光年的天鹅座中静静转动。

第六幅

Red dwarfed - This artist's conception shows a hypothetical planet 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.

红矮星——在艺术家的概念里，这颗假想星球的两条卫星轨道都允许红矮星围绕其转动时处于宜居带内。距太阳最近的星球中，大多数为红矮星。

第七幅

First second-Earth - Kepler-186f was the first validated Earth-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.

首颗类地行星——开普勒186是首颗被证实与地球大小类似的在宜居带内围绕母恒星运转的行星。它与恒星之间的距离使行星表面溢出液态水成为可能。

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.

超级金星——被称为“超级地球”的开普勒-69与金星极为相似。该行星处在宜居带，其母恒星与太阳类似，在距地球2700光年的天鹅座内运行。

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.

微观世界——仅仅在银河系形成20亿年时，开普勒—444就诞生了。这一密集的恒星系统拥有五颗行星，按大小排列，最小的和水星差不多，最大的和金星相似，绕恒星转的运行周期不到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——这幅作品对地球（左）与开普勒452进行了比较，后者体积为地球的1.6倍。两颗行星都是围绕着拥有相似温度的2类型恒星运行；然而，开普勒452的母恒星形成时间已达60亿年——比太阳大1.5亿年。

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 has now entered emergency mode 75 million miles away from Earth, due to a malfunction.

大部分系外行星的发现工作都是由开普勒空间望远镜完成的，并且都命名为“开普勒……”。开普勒空间望远镜于2009年发射，现在由于发生故障已进入应急运行模式，距离地球7500万英里远。

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

为了研究“地球潜在兄弟”的大气成分，科学家们需要新的天空之眼。

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.

现在，西格能够研究大气成分的系外行星屈指可数，而且都是气态巨行星。不过，美国航天航空局预计于2017年启动一个新项目，她已参与其中，旨在侦查位于宜居带的最明亮的近地行星，以找寻小岩态行星。

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.

这个两年计划简称为（TESS，凌日行星调查卫星），旨在收集数据，然后输入到詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜中，该望远镜预计于2018年发射，是下一个哈勃空间望远镜。“这将不同凡响，”西格说道。

The James 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.

上世纪60年代，美国航天航空局尚处在开拓时期，詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜就是取名于那时的局长之名。该望远镜的主镜大小是哈勃望远镜的5倍，因此能以前所未有的清晰度观测宇宙。该望远镜通过借助特殊仪器阻挡系外行星的寄主星的刺眼强光，使得系外行星的可见度更高，以提供系外行星的直接成像。借由此，西格和其他天文学家将能站在一种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.

西格相信他们研究的许多行星都将是他们一直在寻找的含有液态水的岩态行星。

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

“我坚信他们就在那里等着我们去发现。