NASA Reveals Close-Up Images of Saturn's Mysterious Moon Tit

 

By Jessica Berman

The U.S. space agency has released the first close-up pictures of Titan, Saturn¹'s secretive, giant moon. Photos from the international Cassini spacecraft show the orbiting object shrouded² in haze³, and astronomers⁴ say the new images do not answer many questions surrounding the mysterious moon.

The images of Titan's hazy⁵ atmosphere are part of the four-year Cassini mission to Saturn. Initial images taken from a distance of 1,200 kilometers, the closest any spacecraft has ever gotten to Titan, show smog shrouding⁶ the moon's surface.

The new images, while clearer than those of the past, still don't reveal much more about Saturn's biggest moon than was previously⁷ known. Scientists believe Titan's atmosphere is similar to that of early Earth, and they want to study it to learn about the sort of chemistry that might have existed just before life on Earth began.

The leader of the Cassini imaging team, Carolyn Porco, says astronomers still have a long way to go to learn what's beneath Titan's haze.

"I'm not surprised we're having such a difficult time interpreting what's on the surface because remember this is an environment that we've never seen before," said Carolyn Porco. "It's not like we're visiting another airless body, and we have a lot of experience in interpreting airless bodies, all those methods of examining solid surfaces from planetary spacecraft that we have learned over the last half century. We can't use that on Titan because it's a very different environment. The materials it's made of are alien."

Ms. Porco says there are several surface features that appear to have sharp boundaries, but scientists can't distinguish them and they can't tell whether the surface is rugged⁸ or smooth.

Also, astronomers saw clouds moving very slowly over the moon's southern pole at the same time that it appears winds whip quickly across Titan's surface.

The mission is one of 45 planned flybys of Titan - some even closer - during Cassini's four-year tour of Saturn and its moons and rings. Later this year Cassini will deploy⁹ a European Space Agency probe, named Huygens, that will descend¹⁰ to the surface of Titan in January.

Jessica Berman, VOA News, Washington.

注释：
shroud 掩盖
haze 薄雾
spacecraft 太空船
beneath 在……之下
interpret 解说
planetary 行星的
alien 不相容的
boundary 分界线
flyby 飞越
descend 下降

1 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• 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。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

2 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

4 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》

5 hazy   

adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的

参考例句：

• We couldn't see far because it was so hazy.雾气蒙蒙妨碍了我们的视线。
• I have a hazy memory of those early years.对那些早先的岁月我有着朦胧的记忆。

6 shrouding   

n.覆盖v.隐瞒( shroud的现在分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The mist shrouding the walley had lifted. 笼罩山谷的雾霭散去了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A dark stubble was shrouding his strong jaw and dimpled chin. 硕大有凹陷的下巴上满是深色的短须。 来自互联网

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

10 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。