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NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin" -- the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own. |
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美國 NASA（NASA）於週四表示，其克卜勒號太空船發現了「一個體積和年紀都比地球大的表親」──這顆大小與地球近似的行星，是第一顆在類似於我們所在處的恆星適居帶所發現的星球。 |
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Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet to be found. |
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儘管 NASA 無法明確指出這顆行星是否像地球這樣由岩石構成或有沒有水和空氣，但這仍是至目前為止發現最近似的一顆。 |
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"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said. |
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「今天，地球稍微不那麼寂寞了，」克卜勒號研究者強．詹金斯表示。 |
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The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. |
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It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet. |
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這顆命名為克卜勒 452b 的行星距離地球一千四百光年左右，位於天鵝座裡。NASA 表示，這顆行星約比地球大百分之六十，位於其所屬恆星的適居帶裡──也就是維生所需的液態水可能存在於行星表面的區域。 |
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A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of Earth's, and planetary scientists say the odds of it having a rocky surface are "better than even." |
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如果有訪客到那裡去，體驗到的重力會是地球的兩倍左右，行星科學家表示那顆行星擁有岩石表面的機率「高於一半」。 |
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While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun. |
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And that sunlight would be very similar to Earth's, Jenkins said. |
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那顆行星與其恆星的距離雖然比地球和太陽的距離稍遠一點，但它的恆星比較亮，所以那顆行星從其恆星獲得的能量和地球從太陽獲得的能量相當。那顆行星上的陽光應該和地球上非常相似，詹金斯說。 |
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The planet "almost certainly has an atmosphere," Jenkins said, although scientists can't say what it's made of. |
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However, if the assumptions of planetary geologists are correct, he said, Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes. |
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那顆行星「幾乎可以確定有大氣層，」詹金斯說，儘管科學家無法確定是由什麼構成的。但他表示，如果行星地質學家的假設沒錯，那麼克卜勒 452b 的大氣層可能比地球厚，而且那顆行星有活火山。 |
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It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star, very similar to Earth's 365-day year, NASA said. |
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Also, because it has spent so long orbiting in this zone -- 6 billion years -- it has had plenty of time to brew life, Jenkins said. |
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那顆行星繞行恆星一圈要三百八十五天，非常近似於地球的一年三百六十五天，NASA 表示。由於那顆行星在那個區域繞行了那麼久──六十億年──所以有相當充裕的時間培育生命，詹金斯說。 |
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"That's substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet," he said in a statement. |
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「如果生命的一切必要原料和條件都存在於這顆行星上，那麼生命出現的機會就很大了，」他在一份聲明中表示。 |
