哈勃天文台探测到月球上拥有含氧矿物质

Hubble Detects Oxygen-Bearing Minerals on Moon

哈勃天文台探测到月球上拥有含氧矿物质

 

The orbiting Hubble observatory¹ is usually aimed at extremely distant areas of the universe. But for a few days in August, the U.S. space agency, NASA, pointed² it at the moon to look at the landing sites of the Apollo 15 and 17 missions of the early 1970s and a 45-kilometer wide impact crater³ on a plateau never visited by astronauts.

 

The Apollo missions had returned rock samples containing an oxygen-bearing mineral called ilmenite. Planetary scientist Mark Robinson of Northwestern University near Chicago says planners of future moon missions want to know if the plateau region contains an equally rich amount of ilmenite.

 

Mark Robinson: All the minerals you find on the moon have oxygen in them, but ilmenite is special in the sense that it is relatively⁴ easy to break it apart to get to the oxygen.

 

The Hubble telescope was trained on these sites because its camera has filters that let it see in two regions of ultraviolet light and sense minerals on the moon's crust by the way their colors reflect in this part of the spectrum⁵. Mr. Robinson compares the situation to sunglasses, which filter out some light and lets other wavelengths⁷ in.

 

 

Mark Robinson: So by putting these sunglasses on at different times on the Hubble, we're able to create these black and white images in different wavelengths that we can use to discriminate⁸ subtle colors on the surface.

 

Mr. Robinson and other university and NASA researchers are using the rocks returned by Apollo astronauts to help calibrate⁹ the light Hubble saw reflected from the Apollo landing sites. They can then compare this light with light from the crater area to determine how much oxygen-bearing ilmenite the region contains.

 

NASA Hubble scientist Jennifer Wiseman is part of the project.

 

Jennifer Wiseman: Future human expeditions to the moon could benefit by being able to use resources on the site instead of having to carry, for example, all of their life support systems up with them. So this is an important step to preparing a do-able program of lunar exploration.

 

NASA is preparing to renew exploration of the moon with the 2008 launch of a satellite called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the first of several robotic missions that will lead to a human landing in 2018. The agency says the overall program will have value for scientists learning how the moon, Earth, and the other planets formed. It will also serve as the basis for later exploration of Mars.

 

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will take the best images yet of the moon's terrain¹⁰ to measure its chemical makeup¹¹ and help the space agency look for possible landing sites. NASA moon scientist Michael Wargo says that it will provide data on potential resources that humans could tap when they return.

 

Michael Wargo: The quality of the measurements that were made by Hubble are going to allow us prior to the launch of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to help the team start to target where are the places that we want to look carefully at.

 

Targeting Hubble toward the moon was a technical challenge. It was designed to look at objects billions of kilometers away. Such distant bodies appear still during the brief time it takes to photograph them, so Hubble's aim can be steady. But the nearby moon appears to the observatory as relatively fast moving, so to track it and take 60 pictures, the telescope had to spin in a way it does not usually do. NASA's chief moon exploration scientist, Jim Garvin, says it was as if a blind person tried to throw a ball perfectly¹² 60 times to someone running 50 meters away.

 

Jim Garvin: That's the job Hubble had to do at the moon. It was a noteworthy undertaking¹³. This is in some sense the miracle on the moon.

 

NASA says the Hubble images will require many months of analysis to determine the amount of ilmenite, and therefore oxygen, at the potential lunar landing site.

 

David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.

 

注释：

observatory [Eb5zE:vEtEri] adj. 天文台

crater [5kreitE] n. 弹坑

filter [5filtE] n. 滤波器，过滤器，滤光器

ultraviolet [5QltrE5vaiElit] adj. 紫外线的

spectrum [5spektrEm] n. 光，光谱

wavelength⁶ [5weivleNW] n. [物]波长

calibrate [5kAlibreit] v. 校准

reconnaissance [ri5kCnisEns] n. 侦察，搜索，勘测

noteworthy [5nEutwE:Ti] adj. 值得注目的，显著的

1 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。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

6 wavelength   

n.波长

参考例句：

• The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
• Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。

7 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

8 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

9 calibrate   

校准；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Pesticide levels in food are simply too difficult to calibrate.食品中杀虫剂的含量很难精确测定。

10 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

11 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。