本帖最后由 shayi1983 于 2015-8-3 23:51 编辑
声明：本贴的内容原文和图片取自于NASA官网（http://www.nasa.gov/press-releas ... der-cousin-to-earth），本人只是对其进行翻译，由于个人知识水平有限，翻译错误，不妥之处还请广大网友指出，感激不尽！下面就是原文和译文的分段中英对照：
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
NASA 的 Kepler 任务已经确认了首个接近地球大小的行星，其位于某个类日恒星周围的“宜居带”内。
这一发现与引入的其它11个新的小宜居带候选行星，标志着（人类）在搜寻另一个“地球”征途中的又一里程碑。
The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
这一新发现（编号为）Kepler-452b 的行星，是迄今发现的最小环绕在宜居带内的行星——宜居带是指恒星周围的特定区域，在该区域中绕行（中央母星）的行星表面能够驻留液态水——它位于一颗 G2（光谱型）恒星的宜居带内，该恒星与我们的太阳类似。Kepler-452b 的发现将已确认的（系外）行星总数增加到 1030 个。
"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.
NASA 华盛顿总部科学任务委员会的副局长 John Grunsfeld 说：“在证明其它恒星拥有行星（系统）这一发现的20周年之际，Kepler 系外行星探测器终于发现了与我们的地球—太阳最为相似的行星—恒星组合”
“这个令人振奋的结果使我们在寻找另一个地球方面又迈进了一步”
Kepler-452b 的直径比地球大 60%，被认为是一个超大类地行星。虽然它的质量和组成尚未确定，先前的研究表明：从 Kepler-452b 的大小来看，是岩石（固态）行星的几率很高。
While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.
尽管 Kepler-452b 比地球大，它的 385天（公转周期）轨道仅比地球的长约 5% 。同时，Kepler-452b 与其母星 Kepler-452 的距离只比地球与太阳的距离远 5% 。
恒星 Kepler-452 （的年龄）大约60亿年，比太阳“老”15亿年，拥有相同的温度， 比太阳亮 20%，直径大 10% 。
“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, biggercousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. "It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”
NASA 在加利福尼亚州 Moffett Field 艾姆斯研究中心的 Kepler 数据分析负责人 Jon Jenkins （他领导发现了 Kepler-452b 的团队）说：
“我们可以把 Kepler-452b 看成是地球的较大，较年长堂亲或表亲，它提供了我们一个机会，了解和回头思考地球的持续演化环境”
“令人惊叹的是，考虑到该行星已经在它母星的宜居带内度过了60亿年，比地球的年龄还古老，因此有绝佳的机会出现生命，（看起来）这个行星上存在形成生命的所有必要成分和条件”
To help confirm the finding and better determine the properties of the Kepler-452 system, the team conducted ground-based observations at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory, the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, and the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. These measurements were key for the researchers to confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-452b, to refine the size and brightness of its host star and to better pin down the size of the planet and its orbit.
为了助于确认发现和更好地测定 Kepler-452 行星系统的性质，该团队分别在德克萨斯州立大学奥斯汀分校的麦克唐纳天文台，亚利桑那州霍普金斯大学的弗雷德·劳伦斯·惠普尔天文台，以及
夏威夷莫纳克亚火山顶的凯克天文台，展开了地面观测。这些测量（结果）是研究人员确认 Kepler-452b 行星性质的关键，精细测定母星的大小和亮度，以及更好的确定该行星的大小和它的轨道。
The Kepler-452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.
Kepler-452 行星系统位于天鹅座方向 1400 光年远处。报告这一发现的学术论文已经在 Astronomical Journal （天文期刊）上发表。
In addition to confirming Kepler-452b, the Kepler team has increased the number of new exoplanet candidates by 521 from their analysis of observations conducted from May 2009 to May 2013, raising the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler mission to 4,696. Candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.
除了证实行星 Kepler-452b 外，Kepler 团队还增加了新的系外行星候选数量，从 2009年5月到2013年5月他们分析的521个观测结果，通过 Kepler 任务增加探测到的候选行星数量至4696个。
候选行星需要进行后续的追踪观测和分析，以验证它们确实是行星。
Twelve of the new planet candidates have diameters between one to two times that of Earth, and orbit in their star's habitable zone. Of these, nine orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature.
新系外行星候选中的12个其直径为地球的1~2倍，环绕在各自母星的宜居带内。其中9个母星的大小与温度接近我们的太阳。
“We've been able to fully automate our process of identifying planet candidates, which means we can finally assess every transit signal in the entire Kepler dataset quickly and uniformly,” said Jeff Coughlin, Kepler scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. “This gives astronomers a statistically sound population of planet candidates to accurately determine the number of small, possibly rocky planets like Earth in our Milky Way galaxy.”
加利福尼亚州山景市 SETI （搜索地外文明）研究所的 Kepler 科学家 Jeff Coughlin （他带领着对一个新候选目录的分析）说： “我们已经能够完全自动化识别系外行星候选的过程，这意味着我们最终能够迅速且一致地评估整个 Kepler 数据集里的每个凌星（译注：指地球上观测到系外行星经过母星表面造成后者光度下降）信号。”
“这提供了天文学家们一个关于系外行星候选的健全人口统计，用于准确判断我们的银河系中，可能是与地球类似的小型岩石行星数量。”
These findings, presented in the seventh Kepler Candidate Catalog, will be submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. These findings are derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.
以上这些发现已呈递给第七届 Kepler 候选目录，并将付梓于天体物理学杂志。
这些发现都源自于 NASA Exoplanet Archive （NASA 系外行星档案http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/index.html）中，公开可用的数据。
Scientists now are producing the last catalog based on the original Kepler mission’s four-year data set. The final analysis will be conducted using sophisticated software that is increasingly sensitive to the tiny telltale signatures of Earth-size planets.
科学家们目前正在制作最后一个基于原始 Kepler 任务的四年数据集的目录。最终分析将使用对地球大小行星泄露的微小特征日益敏感的复杂软件进行。
Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
前文提到的艾姆斯研究中心管理着 NASA 科学任务委员会的 Keple 和 K2 任务。NASA 在加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳市的喷气推进实验室，则管理 Kepler 任务的发展。
Ball 航天技术公司经营的飞行系统由科罗拉多博尔德大学的大气与空间物理实验室提供技术支持。
For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:
This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system. Kepler-186 is a miniature solar system that would fit entirely inside the orbit of Mercury. The habitable zone of Kepler-186 is very small compared to that of Kepler-452 or the sun because it is a much smaller, cooler star. The size and extent of the habitable zone of Kepler-452 is nearly the same as that of the sun, but is slightly bigger because Kepler-452 is somewhat older, bigger and brighter. The size of the orbit of Kepler-452b is nearly the same as that of the Earth at 1.05 AU. Kepler-452b orbits its star once every 385 days.
上面这张图是把 Kepler-452 行星系统， Kepler-186 行星系统，以及太阳系放在一起的相对大小比较。Kepler-186 行星系统就是一个可以完全放在水星轨道内侧的微型太阳系。
Kepler-186 行星系统的宜居带相比 Kepler-452 行星系统或太阳系的宜居带，显得很小，这是因为 Kepler-186 是一颗（相较太阳）更小更冷的恒星。
Kepler-452 行星系统宜居带的大小和范围与太阳系的宜居带几乎相同，但稍微大一些，这是由于 Kepler-452（相较太阳）稍微年老，更大与更亮一些。
Kepler-452b 行星的轨道大小（半径）为 1.05 个天文单位，几乎与地球的轨道半径一样。Kepler-452b 行星每 385 天环绕它的母星一周。
Highlighted are 12 new planet candidates from the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog that are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in the stars' habitable zone—the range of distances from a star where liquid water could exist on the surface of an orbiting planet. The dark green area represents an optimistic estimate for the habitable zone, while the light green area represents a more conservative estimate for the habitable zone. The candidates are plotted as a function of the star's surface temperate on the vertical axis and by the amount of energy the planet candidate receives by its host star. Open yellow circles show new planet candidates in the seventh catalog. Open blue circles show candidates from previous catalogs. Filled-in circles represent candidates that have been confirmed as planets due to follow-up observations. Note that the new candidates tend to be around stars more similar to the sun, representing progress in finding planets that are similar to the Earth in size and temperature that orbit sun-like stars.
上图中高亮（黄色）显示的12个新系外候选行星来自第七 Kepler 系外行星候选目录，它们都小于2倍地球大小，并且围绕在母星附近的移居带内——距离母星的特定范围，在该区域内绕行的行星表面可能存在液态水。暗绿色区域代表乐观估计出的移居带范围，而亮绿色区域代表较保守估算出的宜居带范围。
图中的候选行星被绘制成其母星表面温度（纵轴）与该行星从它的母星接收到的能量总和（横轴）的函数。
空心的黄色圆圈表示第七目录中的新系外候选行星。空心蓝色圆圈表示来自前一个目录的候选行星。实心圆代表由于追踪观测已被确认为行星的候选者。
注意，近来新发现的候选行星越来越倾向位于与太阳相似的恒星周围，这表明搜索围绕类日恒星，与地球大小和温度相似行星的工作已经取得进展。
There are 4,696 planet candidates now known with the release of the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog - an increase of 521 since the release of the previous catalog in Jan. 2015. The blue dots show planet candidates from previous catalogs, while the yellow dots show new candidates from the seventh catalog. New planet candidates continue to be found at all periods and sizes due to continued improvement in the detection techniques. Notably, several of these new candidates are near-Earth-sized and at long orbital periods, where they have a chance of being rocky with liquid water on their surface.
已发布的第七 Kepler 系外行星候选目录中，已知有 4696 颗候选行星——自 2015年1月发布的前一个目录以来，增加了 521 颗。上图中蓝点表示来自前一个目录的候选行星，而黄点表示来自第七
目录的新增候选行星。由于探测技术的持续改进，不断发现新的候选行星，有着不同的轨道周期和大小。值得注意的是，其中几颗的大小接近地球，并且有着长公转轨道周期，这些行星有可能是岩石的，其表面拥有液态水。
|
|
置顶卡
变色卡
千斤顶
显身卡