2015-02-25 BBC:星光七纪元-11

This whole process explains the distinctive¹ shape of all solar systems including our own.

The reason why you see all the planets going around the Sun in the same direction on the same plane is because they are all formed from the same belt, from the same disc.

Remarkably² just using observations with a naked eye and the power of deduction³, Copernicus had created the first accurate family portrait of a star, surrounded by its offspring, the planets, but birth is just the beginning. Every morning at dawn the Sun becomes the only star that we can see in the sky, a star in middle age like 90% of all the other ones, it's only special to us because it's so close.

Once it was realised that the Sun was a star, it opens up an enormous window to our understanding of the universe because the Sun really is the only star that we can properly see and by looking at the Sun we have this magnificent laboratory so close to us, we can actually see it, we can actually study it, we can actually see the surface, make models of the interior, measure a lot of things in the atmosphere, and by studying the Sun in that way, we are studying the stars.

1 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

2 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

3 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。