英语听力：自然百科 行星旅行指南：木星 Jupiter—3（在线收听） |
This giant gas bag is built from the flimsiest materials in the universe. But for all its squishy bulk, it’s a great little mover. Jupiter spins at such a breakneck speed that it bulges at the equator, so fast in fact that a day here lasts less than ten hours, the shortest of all the planets. Our gaze was first drawn to the attractions of Jupiter 400 earth years ago when Italian astronomer Galileo pointed his telescope toward the planet on January 7th, 1610. His curious novelty quickly became one of the most powerful scientific instruments of all time and turned our world on its head.
What he saw for the first time was that Jupiter had four moons. And he could see those four moons were going around the planet. And this is what really first told him that the earth couldn’t possibly be the center, here were objects going around something other than the earth.
It was a revelation. Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede, were these worlds like our own, circling a distant master? It’s a cosmic experience anyone with a backyard telescope can have. Point at Jupiter and you’ll see for yourself.
Jupiter is like a little miniature / solar system by itself. It has many moons, four of which are very large and bright, for rest of which are very small and faint. But these moons are all different.
The court of the king of the planets is crowded. At last count, an entourage of 62 moons was in attendance, all dancing to Jupiter’s heavy gravitational tune. It is even crowned by a trail of faint gossamer rings.
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| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/zrbaike/2012/273809.html |