A spacecraft sent to the least explored rocky planet in the solar system is providing surprising new information that may rewrite what scientists believe about the growth of planets.
一个航天器被发射到太阳系内被最少探测到的巖石质行星(水星),它正在提供的新信息令人惊叹,其可能改写科学家对行星演化的认识。
Now, for the first time, we have evidence for a rocky planet around a normal star.
现在,我们第一次有证据表明,宇宙中存在一颗环绕常态恒星运转的巖状行星。
The extrasolar planet GJ 1214b is a rocky planet rich in water that sits about 40 light-years away.
外太阳系行星GJ1214b是一颗约有40光年远的由巖石组成的多水行星。
The were stunned to find a rocky planet so near a star, he said.
天文学家对于发现一颗巖石行星如此靠近一颗恒星感到震惊,他说。
Breakthrough: The rocky planet - unofficially named Vulcan by Nasa scientists - gave itself away through tiny dips in its parent sun「s brightness as it passed in front of it.
突破:巖石行星—被美国宇航局非正式命名为火神—在太阳前穿过时略显暗淡。
If a rocky planet is big enough - say, 10 times the mass of Earth - it can vacuum up so much hydrogen that its atmosphere ends up constituting most of the planet.
如果一个由巖石组成的行星足够的大——比方说,质量是地球的10倍——它可以吸收如此多的氢,以至于他的大气层最终会形成大部分的行星。
「We would have never dreamed you would find a rocky planet so close,」 he said. 「Its year is less than one of our days.」
「我们从未想过能在这么近的地方找到一颗巖态行星,」他说道,「它的寿命还没我们中随便哪个的长」。
「This is the first confirmed rocky planet in another system,」 astronomer Artie Hatzes told CNN, contrasting the solid planet with gaseous ones like Jupiter and Saturn.
「这还是在另一个星系中首次被确认的巖态星球,」天文学界ArtieHatzes如是告诉cnn,与之对比的是,像木星与土星一样的气态行星。
A rocky planet takes a hit from a comet in an artist」s impression of what could be going on around the nearby star Eta Corvi.
一颗巖石行星遭到了彗星的撞击,在一位艺术家的印象里,这可能就是在乌鸦座eta星附近发生的情况。
「This is the first unquestionably rocky planet orbiting a star outside our solar system,」 said astronomer Natalie Batalha of San Jose State University, a member of the Kepler team.
SanJose州立大学天文学家NatalieBatalha说,毫无疑问,这是我们第一次探测到太阳系以外的巖状行星。