34 Outside the Solar System-Mid

Outside the Solar System Written by Patricia Walsh and Ron Fridell

《太阳系外》帕特里夏·沃尔什和罗恩·弗里德尔著

Introducing Deep Space Look up on a dark, clear night away from city lights. Do you see the points of light overhead? Most of the points of light you see are stars. Some points of light are really double stars that orbit, or go around, each other. Some points of light are groups of stars called galaxies. What you see and what you cannot see is all part of deep space. Deep space is everything beyond our Solar System. It is space that is beyond our star— the Sun— and the planets, asteroids, and comets that orbit the Sun.

在一个远离城市灯光的黑暗晴朗的夜晚抬头仰望。 你看到头顶上的光点了吗? 你看到的大部分光点都是恒星。 有些光点实际上是相互环绕的双星。 一些光点是被称为星系的恒星群。 你看到的和你看不到的都是深空的一部分。 深空是太阳系之外的一切。 它是我们的恒星——太阳——以及围绕太阳运行的行星、小行星和彗星之外的空间。

Exploring Space For thousands of years, people used the stars to navigate their way across Earth's land and seas. About 500 years ago, people developed the first telescopes. Telescopes let them get a closer look at the objects in the night sky. Over time, telescopes have been improved in many ways. Today, huge telescopes sit on top of mountains. Space telescopes orbit Earth. Scientists also use another kind of telescope. The radio telescope detects radio waves given off by objects in space, which allows us to detect things that cannot be seen with optical telescopes.

探索太空几千年来，人们利用星星在地球的陆地和海洋上导航。 大约500年前，人们发明了第一批望远镜。 望远镜能让他们更近距离地观察夜空中的物体。 随着时间的推移，望远镜在很多方面都得到了改进。 今天，巨大的望远镜坐落在山顶上。 太空望远镜环绕地球运行。 科学家还使用另一种望远镜。 射电望远镜探测空间物体发出的无线电波，这使我们能够探测到光学望远镜看不到的东西。

Humans have gone into space. We have even landed on the Moon. But no one from Earth has ever traveled farther than our Moon. No one has traveled outside our Solar System into deep space. Pack your imagination. You're about to journey among the billions and billions of stars, planets, and galaxies in the universe. Word Wise The word telescope comes from the Greek word teleskopos. The word part tele- means "far" and -skopos means "seeing." Our modern-day telescopes let us see far into space.

人类已经进入了太空。 我们甚至登上了月球。 但地球上还没有人去过比月球更远的地方。 还没有人到太阳系外的深空旅行过。 发挥你的想象力。你即将在宇宙中数十亿的恒星、行星和星系中旅行。 望远镜这个词来自希腊语teleskopos。 tele-的意思是“远”，skopos的意思是“看到”。 现代望远镜让我们能看到遥远的太空。

Out of This World You already know your space neighbors— the Moon, the other planets, and our Sun. These are in our Solar System. But it is only a very tiny part of a gigantic universe. Outside the Solar System is vast space and billions and billions of other objects. It's time to leave Earth, and head toward deep space. Take a moment to look back over your shoulder as you zip past the outer planets of Uranus and Neptune. Earth looked like a blue dot for a while, but now it has disappeared. You are leaving our Solar System. Did you feel a bump? It was caused by solar wind where the Solar System ends and deep space begins. The bump should not have surprised you. Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft launched in 1977, let scientists know about the bumpy solar winds. You're traveling much faster than Voyager 2, so you might pass it as you cross into interstellar space.

你已经知道了你的太空邻居——月球、其他行星和我们的太阳。 它们就在我们的太阳系里。 但它只是浩瀚宇宙中极小的一部分。 太阳系外是广阔的空间和数以十亿计的其他物体。 是时候离开地球，前往外太空了。 当你快速飞过天王星和海王星这两个外行星时，花点时间回头看看。 地球有一段时间看起来像一个蓝点，但现在它已经消失了。 你们正在离开太阳系。 你觉得有肿块吗?它是由太阳风引起的，在太阳系的尽头和深空的起点。 这个肿块不应该让你感到惊讶。 1977年发射的无人驾驶宇宙飞船“旅行者2号”让科学家了解了颠簸的太阳风。 你的速度比旅行者2号快得多，所以当你进入星际空间时，你可能会超过它。

Among the Stars You've traveled a very long distance now. You have come 4.2 light-years from Earth. You're arriving at Earth's nearest star neighbor. It's the dim and cool Proxima Centauri. Next you'll see Alpha Centauri. It is much brighter than dim Proxima. Up close, you can see that Alpha Centauri has two stars that are very much like our Sun. Standing on Earth, you saw constellations made of stars arranged in interesting shapes, like a lion and a centaur. But now you'll notice that these constellations aren't groups of dots on a flat surface. They're actually stars that are very far from one another. Math Moment The distance between stars is vast. Scientists use a measurement called a light-year to measure it. A light-year is the distance that light travels in one year. One light-year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers (5.9 trillion mi.). About how many kilometers (or mi.) from Earth is our closest star neighbor?

在星星之间你已经旅行了很长一段距离。 你来到了距离地球4.2光年的地方。 你正在到达地球最近的恒星邻居。 它是昏暗而凉爽的比邻星。 接下来你会看到半人马座阿尔法星。 它比暗淡的比邻星亮得多。 近距离观察，你可以看到半人马座阿尔法星有两颗非常像太阳的恒星。 站在地球上，你会看到由恒星组成的星座，它们排列成有趣的形状，就像狮子和半人马。 但现在你会注意到这些星座并不是平面上的点群。 它们实际上是彼此相距很远的恒星。 恒星之间的距离是巨大的。 科学家们使用一种叫做光年的测量方法来测量它。 一光年是光在一年里走过的距离。 一光年大约是9.5万亿公里(5.9万亿英里)。 离地球最近的恒星邻居大约有多少公里(或英里)?