美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-01-08
时间:2018-12-02 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(一)月
英语课
This is Scientific American 60 second Science, I am Karen Hopkin, this will just take a minute.
“There are in fact 100 billion galaxies 1, each of which contains something like a 100 billion stars.” Well, Carl Sagan would have loved to get the latest estimate of our galaxy 2’s planet count.
Caltech astronomers 3 set their sites on a star called Kepler 32. It’s an M dwarf 4 star, a class that’s smaller and cooler than our sun, and accounts for about three quarters of the stars in the Milky 5 Way. But what’s really cool about this particular star, from the astronomers’ point of view, is that its five planets orbit in a plane that the Kepler telescope sees edge on. So the star’s light dims each time a planet passes between it and the scope, which makes the planets easier to detect.
Now, taking into account the percentage of M dwarf systems that lie in a similar edge on orientation 6, and the number of planetary systems the Kepler telescope has already detected, the researchers figure our galaxy is host to at least 100 billion planets. Their calculations are served up in The Astrophysical Journal.
Many of those planets may be the size of Earth. But we’re the only planet that produced Carl Sagan.
Thanks for the minute for 60 second science, I am Karen Hopkin(天文领域的文章,不好懂)
galaxy: 银河
edge on: 侧向
M dwarf: 红矮星
1 galaxies
星系( galaxy的名词复数 ); 银河系; 一群(杰出或著名的人物)
- Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
- We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。
2 galaxy
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
- The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
- The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。
3 astronomers
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )
- Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪,为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 dwarf
n.矮子,侏儒,矮小的动植物;vt.使…矮小
- The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
- The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀,摇摇头。
5 milky
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
- Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
- I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
6 orientation
n.方向,目标;熟悉,适应,情况介绍
- Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
- The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。