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It had been downgraded to a dwarf planet, it looked like a fuzzy blob in our best telescopes and it was often referred to as just an icy orb. |
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Even scientists working on the first mission to Pluto expected to find an old, pockmarked world. |
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But, Pluto is turning out to be full of surprises. |
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這顆星球已被降級為矮行星,在我們最頂尖的望遠鏡當中看起來像是模模糊糊的一團,也經常被稱為只是一顆冰冷的球體。即使是參與首次冥王星任務的科學家,也預期會看見一個坑坑洞洞的古老世界。不過,結果冥王星卻充滿了驚奇。 |
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"I'm completely surprised," said Alan Stern, principal investigator for NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. |
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「我驚訝得不得了,」美國太空總署新視野號太空船首席研究員艾蘭.史騰說。 |
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The first zoomed-in image of Pluto was released on Wednesday, a day after the spacecraft made its closest pass over Pluto, cruising about 7,700 miles over the surface. |
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The probe traveled more than 3.6 billion miles to snap the photo, and scientists think it was well worth the trip. |
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冥王星的第一張放大照片於週三發布,前一日太空船才以最近距離飛過冥王星,在冥王星表面上空約七千七百英里處航行。這架探測船飛行了超過三十六億英里才得以拍到這張照片,科學家認為結果值回票價。 |
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The new image shows a crisp, clear view of Pluto's surface, and it's covered with wide smooth areas, lumpy terrain and mountains -- huge mountains. |
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這張新影像清晰明白地顯示了冥王星的表面,可以看到那裡有廣闊的平坦地區,也有起伏的地勢以及高山──巨大的高山。 |
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"They would stand up respectably against the Rocky Mountains," said John Spencer, a planetary scientist on the New Horizons mission. |
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「那些山與洛磯山脈相比毫不遜色,」新視野任務的行星科學家約翰.斯賓塞表示。 |
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The height of the mountains is important because it's a clue that there may be water on Pluto. |
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Scientists know that Pluto's surface is covered with nitrogen ice, methane ice and carbon monoxide ice. |
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But, Spencer says, "You can't make mountains out of that stuff. It's too soft." |
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山岳的高度很重要,因為這是冥王星上可能會有水的線索。科學家知道冥王星的表面滿是氮冰、甲烷冰與一氧化碳冰。不過,斯賓塞說:「那種東西不可能構成高山,因為太軟了。」 |
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That leaves H2O -- water ice like we have here on Earth. |
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如此一來,就只剩下 H2O──也就是像我們地球上有的這種水冰。 |
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"The steep topography means that the bedrock that makes those mountains must be made of H2O -- of water ice," said Stern. |
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"We can be very sure that the water is there in great abundance." |
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「陡峭的地勢意謂著,形成那些高山的基石必然是由水構成,也就是水冰,」史騰說:「我們可以非常確定那裡存在著大量的水。」 |
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"Who would have supposed that there were ice mountains?" said Hal Weaver, another New Horizons project scientist. "It's just blowing my mind." |
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「誰想得到那裡會有冰山呢?」新視野號計畫的另一名科學家赫爾.韋佛說:「實在讓我驚詫不已。」 |