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NASA has confirmed the presence of water on the moon's sunlit surface, a breakthrough that suggests the chemical compound that is vital to life on Earth could be distributed across more parts of the lunar surface than the ice that has previously been found in dark and cold areas. 美国国家航空航天局证实月球表面有水的存在，这一突破表明，对地球生命至关重要的化学化合物可能分布在月球表面更多的地方，而不同于以前在黑暗和寒冷地区发现的冰。  "We don't know yet if we can use it as a resource," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, but he added that learning more about the water is crucial to U.S. plans to explore the moon. 美国航空航天局局长吉姆·布里登斯汀说:“我们还不知道是否可以把它作为一种资源来利用。”但他补充说，了解更多关于水的知识对美国的探月计划至关重要。 The discovery comes from the space agency's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA — a modified Boeing 747 that can take its large telescope high into Earth's atmosphere, at altitudes up to 45,000 feet. 这一发现来自于美国航空航天局的平流层红外天文观测台，简称索菲亚，这是一架改装过的波音747飞机，它可以携带大型望远镜进入地球大气层，高度可达45000英尺。 Those heights allow researchers to peer at objects in space with hardly any visual disruptions from water vapor. 这样的高度使得研究人员可以在几乎不受水汽干扰的情况下观察太空中的物体。 The water molecules are in Clavius crater, a large crater in the moon's southern hemisphere. 这些水分子位于月球南半球的克拉维乌斯环形山。  To detect the molecules, SOFIA used a special infrared camera that can discern between water's specific wavelength of 6.1 microns and that of its close chemical relative hydroxyl, or OH. 为了检测这些分子，索菲亚使用了一种特殊的红外照相机，它可以分辨水的特定波长6.1微米和它的化学相对羟基之间的波长。 "Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million — roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water — trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface," NASA said in a release about the discovery. 美国航空航天局在一份关于这一发现的新闻稿中说:“从这个位置得到的数据显示，水的浓度为百万分之100到百万分之412，大致相当于一瓶12盎司的水，被困在一立方米的月球表面土壤中。”  "This is not puddles of water but instead water molecules that are so spread apart that they do not form ice or liquid water," said Casey Honniball, the lead author of a study about the discovery. “这不是水坑，而是分散开来的水分子，它们不会形成冰或液态水，”关于这一发现的一项研究的主要作者凯西·霍尼鲍尔说。 The data confirm what experts have suspected, that water might exist on the moon's sunny side. 这些数据证实了专家们的猜测，即月球向阳的一面可能存在水。 But in recent years, researchers had been able to document only water ice at the moon's poles and other darker and colder areas. 但近年来，研究人员只能记录下月球两极和其他较暗较冷地区的冰。 Experts will now try to figure out exactly how the water came to form and why it persists. 专家们现在将试图弄清楚水是如何形成的，为什么它会持续存在。  NASA scientists published their findings in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy. 美国宇航局的科学家在最新一期的《自然天文学》上发表了他们的发现。 "Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," said Honniball. “如果没有厚厚的大气层，月球表面受阳光照射的水就会消失在太空中，”霍尼鲍尔说。 "Yet somehow we're seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there." “但我们还是看到了它。一定是什么东西在产生水，一定是什么东西把水困住了。” There are several possible explanations for the water's presence, including the possibility that it was delivered to the surface by micrometeorites impacting the moon. 对于水的存在有几种可能的解释，包括它可能是由撞击月球的微陨石带到月球表面的。 Glass beads from that process could trap water, but the SOFIA instruments cannot distinguish between water held inside impact glasses and water trapped between grains and in voids, according to the researchers' paper. 根据研究人员的论文，这个过程中的玻璃微珠可能会留住水，但是索菲亚的仪器无法区分碰撞玻璃内的水和在颗粒和空隙中保存的水。 问题 文中提到月球上发现的水的浓度为多少？ 留言回复正确答案，前五名朋友可以获得红包奖励哦，赶快来试试吧！ 感谢关注 跟Amber一起看世界 |
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