美国国家公共电台 NPR Way Beyond Pluto, An Icy World Is Ready For Its Close-Up

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

To reach the latest news about our solar system, you have to travel out to Pluto¹, really far from the sun. And then you travel about a billion miles more. That's what a spacecraft has done. And now it's about to get a look at a mysterious object known as a minor² planet, one of thousands in the outer reaches of the solar system. The craft passes by just after midnight on New Year's. That's just after midnight Eastern time on Earth. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE³: The New Horizons probe is about the size of a grand piano. It's been flying through space for over a dozen years. In 2015, it reached Pluto. What had long been just a fuzzy circle in photographs was revealed to be a stunning⁴, dark reddish world made of frozen nitrogen and methane⁵ with ice mountains.

ALAN STERN: The exploration of Pluto that we conducted was scientifically spectacular.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Alan Stern is the principal investigator⁶ of NASA's New Horizons mission. This mission always planned to visit another icy world after speeding past Pluto. After all, it lies in a region of the solar system that's littered with thousands of small, icy bodies. Stern says this upcoming flyby will be the most far-off exploration of a world that's ever been attempted.

STERN: Really, we have no idea what to expect.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: It was tricky⁷ to find a minor planet that was reachable with the spacecraft's remaining fuel. But a few years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted⁸ one. At a recent press conference, Stern explained that researchers know enough about this tiny world's orbit to be able to intercept⁹ it.

STERN: But there's very little else we know.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Its official name is a bunch of numbers, so it goes by the Latin nickname Ultima Thule, which means beyond the known world. This object is pretty small, only about 20 miles across. Anne Verbiscer is a planetary scientist at the University of Virginia. She says by watching it pass directly in front of stars, researchers figured out that it can't be spherical¹⁰. It seems oblong.

ANNE VERBISCER: It's also red in color. We know that, that the surface is even redder than the surface of Pluto.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Verbiscer points out that this world is 44 times farther from the sun than the Earth is. And it's been out there since the solar system formed over 4 billion years ago.

VERBISCER: So the sun has not heated it up at all and modified its surface. It's been, essentially¹¹, unchanged.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: That makes it a revealing relic¹² of the solar system's early days. The New Horizons probe will fly by around 2,200 miles from its surface, snapping images with an onboard telescope and camera.

VERBISCER: Seeing what the surface is going to look like up close is just going to be (laughter) amazing.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: It takes about six hours for the spacecraft's data to get all the way back to Earth. Detailed¹³ images from the close flyby are expected to be unveiled on January 2. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ZEN ONGAKU'S "TO THE MOON")

1 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

5 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

6 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

7 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

8 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

9 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

10 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

13 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。