太空惊现“上帝之手”

 　　It looks like a hand of God reaching out into the cosmos¹, but NASA says the display is caused by a young and powerful pulsar.

　　Taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory² from it's orbiting 360 miles above the Earth, the recently released photo of Pulsar B1509 captures the X-Ray nebula³ in a state shaped like a human hand.

　　"The finger-like structures are apparently⁴ caused by energizing⁵ knots of material in a neighboring gas cloud," NASA said.

　　NASA estimates the shape spans 150 light years, but it is caused by a dense⁶ neutron⁷ star that's just 12 miles in diameter.

　　Astronomers⁸ believe B1509 is roughly 1,700 years old and is located 17,000 light years from Earth.

　　继早前拍到的上帝之眼，科学家日前再拍摄到上帝之手的太空照片。一团幽影似的蓝云形成了一个张开的大拇指和几只手指，抓住一块燃烧的煤。

　　据香港《大公报》报道，这幅令人震惊的照片，是由美国太空总署的钱德拉X光观测仪拍到的，该观测仪在地球表面上空360英里处绕着轨道运行。

　　该照片令人想起螺旋星云的照片，螺旋星云的蓝色中心被白云包围着，并被人们冠以一个绰号：“上帝之眼”。

　　这只“上帝之手”是由超新星爆炸引起的。爆炸后该星迅速形成一颗12英里宽的脉冲星，该脉冲星深隐于手腕上的白团里。

1 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

2 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

3 nebula   

n.星云，喷雾剂

参考例句：

• A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
• A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 energizing   

v.给予…精力，能量( energize的现在分词 )；使通电

参考例句：

• a refreshing and energizing fruit drink 提神并增加体能的果汁饮料
• The time required after energizing a device, before its rated output characteristics begin to apply. 从设备通电到它开始提供额定输出特性之间所需的时间。 来自辞典例句

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 neutron   

n.中子

参考例句：

• Neutron is neutral and slightly heavier than the proton.中子是中性的，比质子略重。
• Based on the neutron energy,the value of weighting factor was given.根据中子能量给出了相应的辐射权重因子的数值。

8 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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》