VOA标准英语2010-Website of the Week - Wikisky

Time again for our Website of the Week, when we showcase interesting and innovative¹ online destinations.

If you've ever been to a planetarium², you know what it's like to look at stars and planets while an expert guide explains what you're looking at. Our Website of the Week brings a veritable galaxy³ of images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources to your computer.

"We have over 600 million objects mapped. And from this perspective the website might be interesting, not only for amateur astronomers⁴, but for professionals as well," says Kostantine Lysenko, one of the co-creators of Wikisky.org, where breathtaking images of the cosmos⁵ come with pop-up labels so you know what you're seeing.

"We have different kinds of images, but probably the most valuable thing is that the objects that you can see on the images are mapped," says Lysenko. "That means that when you move the mouse on the object, you can see what this object exactly is."

Wikisky lets you scan the virtual sky on your computer, or you can search for stars, planets, and other objects. There are also astronomy forums⁶ and other features that make Wikisky appeal to students of the sky.

"In some universities, teachers recommend the website to students," says Lysenko. "We know about that because we can see that the site is mentioned in educational materials in several places."

Explore the beauty and wonder of the galaxies⁷ at Wikisky.org, or visit our site, VOAnews.com, for the link to this and hundreds of other Websites of the Week
 

1 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

2 planetarium   

n.天文馆；天象仪

参考例句：

• The planetarium staff also prepared talks for radio broadcast.天文馆的工作人员还要准备讲稿给电台广播。
• It landed in a shallow basin fifty yards from the planetarium.它降落在离天文馆五十码处的一个浅盆地中。

3 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

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 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？

6 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

7 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。