Technology Report - Astronomers Still Look to Hubble Space Telescope
科技报道 - 哈勃太空望远镜20年后威力不减
This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道节目。
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to make valuable discoveries after more than twenty years in orbit around Earth.
哈勃太空望远镜在地球轨道上绕行二十多年后，目前还是持续地发现了珍贵的信息。
Hubble recently showed a fourth moon orbiting Pluto. Astronomers temporarily named it P4. The moon is the smallest to be discovered around the icy dwarf planet.
哈勃太空望远镜最近找到了绕行冥王星的第四颗卫星。天文学家暂时将它命名为P4。这颗卫星是在这个覆盖着冰层的矮行星周围所发现到最小的卫星。
Astronomers estimate that the moon is from thirteen to thirty-four kilometers across. They first saw it in a Hubble photo taken on June twenty-eighth.
天文学家估计，这颗卫星大约13到34公里宽。他们是从哈勃在6月28日拍到的照片首次看到这颗卫星的。
The American space agency NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in nineteen ninety. Reaching that day took years of work. Ed Weiler is NASA’s chief astronomer. Mr. Weiler has worked closely with the Hubble program since nineteen seventy-nine.
美国航空航天局在1990年发射哈勃太空望远镜。哈勃得以升空需要许多年的努力。埃德.维勒是美国航空航天局的首席天文学家。维勒从1979年开始就密切进行着哈勃项目。
ED WEILER: “The Hubble, when it was launched, represented an increase in capability of other telescopes on the ground by a factor of ten. The last time in human history in astronomy that we leaped a factor of ten, in one step, was when Galileo stopped using his eye and put the first telescope to his eye.”
维勒说：“哈勃的升空，代表了地面上其他望远镜的观测能力也加强了十倍数。人类天文史中最近一次以十倍数的速度一跃前进，是当伽利略弃肉眼不用，而开始用第一只望远镜的时候。”
NASA's first chief of astronomy was Nancy Grace Roman. Ms. Roman joined NASA in nineteen fifty-nine. She led the effort that resulted in the creation of the Hubble Space Telescope.
美国航空航天局第一位天文学部门主管是南西.格蕾丝.罗曼。罗曼在1959年加入美国航空航天局，她带头努力最终创造出哈勃太空望远镜。
NANCY GRACE ROMAN: “Astronomers had been wanting to get observations from above the atmosphere for a long time. Looking through the atmosphere is somewhat like looking through a piece of old, stained glass. The glass has defects in it, so the image is blurred from that."
罗曼说：“长久以来，天文学家一直期望能在大气层之上进行观察。穿过大气层观察有些像透过一片老旧有污损的玻璃看东西。玻璃本身是有缺陷的，透过它看到的形像也会模糊。”
The Hubble telescope orbits about five hundred fifty kilometers above Earth. Ms. Roman says she still remembers the first images that it captured.
哈勃太空望远镜在地球上方大约550公里处绕行。罗曼说，她仍记得哈勃捕捉到的第一个画面。
NANCY GRACE ROMAN: “I think the image that to me was most striking was the center of a globular cluster. You could see each star individually, and see their color, and it was just a fantastic sight.”
罗曼说：“我想我最震惊的画面是一个球状星团的中心。你可以个别看到每一颗行星、他们的颜色，那景色棒极了。”
The Hubble Space Telescope has helped expand our knowledge of the universe. It helped scientists estimate that the universe began about fourteen billion years ago. Earlier estimates had placed it between ten and twenty billion years old.
哈勃太空望远镜帮助我们扩大了对宇宙的认识。它帮助科学家估算宇宙大约开始于140亿年前。之前估计宇宙的年龄是100亿到200亿年左右。
Ed Weiler says the Hubble telescope also confirmed the existence of black holes. These are extremely dense masses believed to exist at the center of most galaxies. Their gravitational pull is so strong, they absorb light.
埃德.维勒说，哈勃太空望远镜也证实了黑洞的存在。一般相信，这些密度极高的物质存在大部分的银河中心。黑洞的万有引力很强，能把光线吸进去。
ED WEILER: “Black holes were science fiction. 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars.' 'Black holes -- nice theory but nobody believes in them, right?' Hubble proved they exist.”
维勒说：“黑洞曾经是科幻小说，出现在星舰迷航、星际大战等等。‘黑洞是个不错的理论，但没人相信他们对吧？’而哈勃证实了黑洞的存在。”
The Hubble Space Telescope completed its one millionth scientific observation in July. NASA is building a new space telescope to look even deeper into the beginnings of the universe.
哈勃太空望远镜在7月完成了它第一百万次的科学观测。美国航空航天局正在建造一个新的太空望远镜，想更进一步探索宇宙的起源。
And that’s the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms and Julie Taboh. You can watch a video about the Hubble Space Telescope at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember. |