经济学人: 系外行星的卫星探索之旅 (1)

 　　WRITERS of science fiction have long assumed that the galaxy¹ is teeming² with alien planets. 科幻小说的作家们一直都认为星系中存在异形星球。

　　They were correct, but it was only in the past few decades that science has been able to confirm this. 他们没错，只是过了几十年后科学界才得以证实这一想法。

　　The first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, but the floodgates really opened in 2009, with the launch of Kepler, a planet-hunting space probe. 首个系外行星发现于1992年，但是直到2009年，开普勒星球探测器发射后，系外行星的大门才真的被打开。

　　Thousands have since been found. Statistics suggest that every star in the galaxy—and, presumably, the universe—has at least one. 自此有上千个系外行星被发现。数据显示星系—以及，或许宇宙—中的每颗星星至少有一系外行星。

　　Kepler's fuel is now almost exhausted³, and the probe is nearing the end of its life. 开普勒的燃料现在几乎消耗殆尽，这个探测器也将退役。

　　But a paper published by AlexTeachey and David Kipping in Science Advances suggests 但是亚历克斯·提奇和大卫·基平发表于《科学进展》上的一篇论文表明

　　that data it has already collected may confirm another science-fiction assumption—that alien planets have alien moons. 其已收集的数据或许可以证实另一个科幻小说猜想—异形星球上有异形卫星。

　　In a way, this is not surprising. Few astronomers⁴ would have bet against the existence of exomoons. 在某种程度上，这一点也不意外。几乎没有宇航员会打赌外星系不存在卫星。

　　But they might have been sceptical that Kepler was sensitive enough to spot any. What's more, the moon that Drs Teachey and Kipping propose is strikingly strange. 但他们或许一直怀疑，开普勒足够敏感可以探测任何迹象。而且，提奇和基平博士提出的这种卫星非常奇怪。

　　To find their moon, the two researchers sifted⁵ through data from 284 different exoplanets that Kepler had spotted⁶. 为了找到他们的这种卫星，两名研究人员从开普勒探测到的284种不同系外行星中筛选数据。

　　The probe works by monitoring hundreds of thousands of stars, 探测器的工作是监控成千上万个恒星，

　　watching for tiny, repeated drops in their brightness caused by a planet moving in front of the star's disk. 守候那些因行星在星盘前边的移动而造成的微妙反复的光度变化。

　　A planet with a moon should produce a subtly different signal, 有卫星的星球应该会产生一种稍微不同的信号

　　with the moon causing a second, much smaller dip just before or just after the one caused by the planet. 在行星造成倾斜前后，卫星也会导致再次造成更微妙的倾斜。

　　Spotting such tiny flickers⁷ is on the edge of Kepler's capabilities⁸. 探测到如此微小的闪烁，探测器可能无能为力。

　　Nonetheless, Dr Teachey and Dr Kipping found one promising⁹ looking planet, with the unromantic name of Kepler-1625b. 尽管如此，提奇和基平博士还是发现了一颗很有希望的行星，它有一个很平庸的名字—Kepler-1625b。

1 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

2 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 sifted   

v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• She sifted through her papers to find the lost letter. 她仔细在文件中寻找那封丢失的信。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter. 她用蓟筛筛蓟。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

7 flickers   

电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fire flickers low. 炉火颤动欲灭。
• A strange idea flickers in my mind. 一种奇怪的思想又在我脑中燃烧了。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。