VOA慢速英語：美國宇航局新視野號發(fā)回雪人狀天體的圖像

NASA’s New Horizons Shows Image of Snowman-Like Object

美國宇航局新視野號發(fā)回雪人狀天體的圖像

Scientists say images from NASA's spacecraft New Horizons show a snowman-like object in the cold, icy part of our solar system.

科學家表示，美國宇航局新視野號宇宙飛船傳回的圖片展示了在我們太陽系冰冷地帶一個類似雪人的天體。

The "snowman," named Ultima Thule, orbits an area known as the Kuiper Belt. The area has hundreds of thousands of objects that could hold the keys to understanding the beginning of our solar system.

這個名為Ultima Thule的“雪人”在柯伊伯帶上空運行。這個地區(qū)有數(shù)十萬個天體，它們可能保留了我們了解太陽系誕生之初的關(guān)鍵信息。

Jeff Moore leads the New Horizons' geology team. He said the spacecraft "is like a time machine, taking us back to the birth of the solar system."

杰夫·摩爾(Jeff Moore)領導了新視野項目的地質(zhì)團隊。他說，這艘宇宙飛船“就像是一臺時間機器，將我們帶回太陽系的誕生之時。”

Early images show that Ultima Thule is about 31 kilometers by 19 kilometers. Alan Stern, the lead investigator for the mission, said, "It's two completely different objects that are now joined together."

早期的圖像顯示，Ultima Thule的尺寸大約是31公里乘19公里。這次任務的首席調(diào)查員艾倫·斯特恩(Alan Stern)：“這是兩個完全不同的天體，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)連接到了一起。”

Ultima Thule likely formed as a rotating cloud of small, icy objects started to combine. Over time, two larger objects remained and slowly joined together in what scientists called "contact binary." The mission team named the larger object "Ultima" and the smaller one "Thule."

Ultima Thule可能是在小型、冰冷天體的旋轉(zhuǎn)云開始結(jié)合時形成的。隨著時間推移，這兩個較大的天體繼續(xù)存在，并慢慢了結(jié)合成為了科學家們所謂的“密接雙星。”該任務團隊將較大的天體命名為Ultima，較小的天體命名為Thule。

In the early hours of January 1, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Ultima Thule. The fly-by took place at 05:33 UTC. But the signal to confirm the spacecraft's location did not reach Earth until 10 hours later.

1月1日凌晨，新視野號宇宙飛船飛掠了Ultima Thule，時間是在協(xié)調(diào)世界時的5點33分。但是確認宇宙飛船位置的信號直到10小時后才抵達地球。

When New Horizons left Earth in 2006, scientists did not even know about Ultima Thule's existence.

當新視野號于2006年離開地球時，科學家們甚至不知道Ultima Thule的存在。

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated NASA's New Horizons team, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute for "making history."

美國宇航局局長吉姆·布里登斯坦(Jim Bridenstine)對新視野號團隊、約翰·霍普金斯大學應用物理實驗室以及西南研究所“創(chuàng)造歷史”表示了祝賀。

He said, "In addition to being the first to explore Pluto, today New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft and became the first to directly explore an object that holds remnants from the birth of our solar system."

他說：“你們是最早探測冥王星的團隊，今天新視野號又飛掠了迄今為止宇宙飛船造訪過的最遙遠的天體，你們又成為了首個直接探測留有太陽系誕生之初遺留物的天體的團隊。”

The spacecraft will continue sending images and other data over the next 20 months. The New Horizons team is already pushing for another flyby in the 2020s while the spacecraft systems are still working.

這艘宇宙飛船在未來20個月將會繼續(xù)發(fā)回圖像和其它數(shù)據(jù)。新視野團隊已經(jīng)開始推動在21世紀20年代再次進行飛掠，到時該宇宙飛船系統(tǒng)仍在運轉(zhuǎn)。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

喬納森·埃文斯報道。