CNN News: NASA在一個(gè)恒星系發(fā)現(xiàn)7顆類地行星

Yesterday, astronomers announced that they’ve discovered seven Earth-sized planets all orbiting the same star. The findings were published in a journal "Nature". NASA says this is a record number of these kinds of planets orbiting this kind of star. It also believes that three of the planets are in what’s called the habitable zone. Scientists define that as the space around the star where a planet is most likely to have water.

昨日，天文學(xué)家宣布發(fā)現(xiàn)了有7個(gè)類似與地球大小的行星在圍繞這同樣的恒星運(yùn)動(dòng)。該研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上。美國宇航局表示，該數(shù)字刷新了圍繞同一恒星轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)的行星數(shù)量的記錄。同時(shí)，有三個(gè)行星在處于所謂的“宜居區(qū)”?？茖W(xué)家認(rèn)為該恒星周圍的恒星上最可能有水。

This isn’t exactly in our neighborhood. They say the star is 40 light years away and it’d take a human spacecraft millions of years to get there.

但是它們并不是我們?nèi)祟惖泥従?。科學(xué)家表示，這個(gè)恒星距離與地球的距離為40光年。人類乘坐宇宙飛船需要數(shù)萬的時(shí)間才能夠到達(dá)。

So, how did researchers identify planet at that distance? Well, examining stars with the telescope based in Chile, they saw shadows occasionally interrupting the star light. They say that these shadows indicated that planets were passing between the telescope and the star, like eclipses.

那么科學(xué)家是如何判定行星的距離呢?通過位于智利觀察恒星的天文望遠(yuǎn)鏡，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)不時(shí)會(huì)有陰影擋住這個(gè)恒星發(fā)出的光。科學(xué)家表示,，這些陰影表明行星通過望遠(yuǎn)鏡和恒星，就如同日食現(xiàn)象一樣。

What they’re hoping to do in the future is determine the planet’s atmosphere and whether they really have liquid water.

科學(xué)家希望在未來可以確定該恒星的大氣成分以及是否真的有液態(tài)水。