In Chile, Searching for Alien Life in the Sky

In Chile, Searching for Alien Life in the Sky

With its clear sky and dry air, Chile's Atacama desert is a place where astronomers¹ look up at the night skies for life on other planets. They also study dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be driving the growth of the universe.

Soon, they will have a new Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) to search into distant worlds beyond Earth. The GMT is a $1.8 billion center being built at the Las Campanas observatory². The telescope will be able to see 10 times clearer than the well-known Hubble space telescope.

The GMT is expected to begin operating by 2030. It will compete with the nearby European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope as well as the Thirty Meter Telescope being built in Hawaii.

Leopoldo Infante is the head of the Las Campanas observatory. He said the new generation of giant telescopes is being developed to search for life on other planets and look for the origin of dark energy. "It's a race by these three groups for who makes it first and who makes the first discovery," he said.

Infante said the new large telescope would be able to find molecules³ in the atmosphere of faraway planets. "And whoever detects life on another planet will win the Nobel Prize, I assure you."

The other prize is studying dark energy which makes up most of the universe. Infante said dark energy is causing the universe to expand but scientists do not understand its origin.

Infante said the GMT will help astronomers study and understand "what that energy is and where that energy comes from."

Words in This Story

detect — v. to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, taste, etc.)

origin — n. the point or place where something begins or is created : the source or cause of something

assure — v. to make something certain

1 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》

2 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

3 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。