天文学系学生发现17颗新行星
天文学系学生发现17颗新行星
Finding new planets lurking in space isn’t as hard as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a challenge. High-tech instruments like NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have provided researchers with a wealth of data that can be mined for new discoveries. University of British Columbia student Michelle Kunimoto did just that and now has 17 brand new planets to her name.
找到潜伏在太空中的新行星并不像以前那么难，但这并不意味着这不是一个挑战。像美国宇航局开普勒太空望远镜这样的高科技仪器为研究人员提供了大量的数据，可供挖掘新发现。不列颠哥伦比亚大学(University of British Columbia)的学生米歇尔库尼莫托(Michelle Kunimoto)就是这么做的，现在她名下有17颗全新的行星。
Kunimoto, a PhD candidate, is the lead author of a new paper published in The Astronomical Journal that describes the 17 new planets in rough detail. We don’t know much about them, but at least one of them is approximately Earth-sized and is thought to be rocky, just like our own planet.
Kunimoto是一位博士候选人，他在《天文杂志》上发表了一篇新论文，对这17颗新行星进行了粗略的描述。我们对它们了解不多，但至少有一个和地球差不多大，被认为是由岩石构成的，就像我们的星球一样。
Many of the 17 planets are quite large and are thought to be mostly gas. There are lots and lots of gas planets out there, but finding smaller, rocky worlds has proven more difficult for astronomers. The planet now labeled KIC-7340288 b is around 50 percent larger than Earth and it happens to be in the so-called “Goldilocks” zone of its star, meaning that it may be warm enough on its surface to support liquid water.
这17颗行星中有许多都相当大，被认为主要是气体。宇宙中有许许多多气体行星，但事实证明，要找到更小的岩石行星对天文学家来说更加困难。这颗现在被标记为KIC-7340288 b的行星比地球大50%左右，而且它恰好位于其恒星的所谓“适居带”，这意味着它的表面可能有足够的温度来支持液态水。
“This planet is about a thousand light years away, so we’re not getting there anytime soon!” Kunimoto said in a statement. “But this is a really exciting find since there have only been 15 small, confirmed planets in the Habitable Zone found in Kepler data so far.”
“这颗行星离我们大约有1000光年远，所以我们不会很快到达那里!”Kunimoto在一份声明中说。“但这确实是一个令人兴奋的发现，因为到目前为止，在开普勒的数据中只发现了15颗小的、已被证实的宜居带行星。”
The discoveries were made using a technique that has become popular amongst exoplanet hunters in which the light of a star is observed closely for changes in brightness. When a star’s brightness temporarily fades, it indicates something passing in front of the star, from Earth’s perspective. These passes, called transits, can tell astronomers a surprising amount about the objects orbiting a star.
这些发现是利用一种在系外行星猎人中很流行的技术完成的，这种技术通过仔细观察一颗恒星的光的亮度变化。当一颗恒星的亮度暂时减弱时，从地球的角度来看，这表明有什么东西从恒星前面经过。这些瞬变的过程，这种被称为凌日的现象，可以告诉天文学家关于围绕恒星运行的物体的惊人数量。
Details such as how long it takes the planet to complete an orbit and how much light it blocks as it passes in front of the star offer clues to its size and orbit. Astronomers can make a few assumptions based on that data and paint a clearer picture of what is lurking out in the cosmos.
诸如行星完成一个轨道需要多长时间，以及它在恒星前面经过时挡住了多少光线等细节，都为它的大小和轨道提供了线索。天文学家可以根据这些数据做出一些假设，并更清楚地描绘出宇宙中隐藏着什么。
