NASA spacecraft spots possible ice cap on Pluto

NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has spotted surface features on the icy world, including a possible polar cap, images released on Wednesday show..

美国宇航局周三公布的照片显示，“新地平线”号探测器发现冥王星表面是被冰覆盖，有可能包括极地冰冠。

With 60 million miles (97 million km) left to go before its July 14, 2015, encounter, New Horizons already has been able to make out surprising light and dark patches on the surface of Pluto, which is currently more than 32 times farther away from Earth than the sun.

“新地平线”号距离冥王星还有6000万英里(9700万千米)，并预计于2015年7月14日抵达冥王星。该探测器已经能够识别冥王星表面奇特的光亮和黑斑，当前距离比地球到太阳的距离还要远32倍。

"We are starting to see intriguing features, such as a bright region near Pluto’s visible pole," NASA science chief John Grunsfeld said in a statement, in reference to what scientists believe could be a polar ice cap.

“我们现在能够看到有趣的现象，比如在冥王星可见极附近有光亮区。”美国宇航局首席科学顾问John Grunsfeld在一份声明中说道，科学家猜想可能是极地冰冠。

In the images, Pluto appears as a small, highly pixelated blob, but already scientists can see there is something very odd about its surface.

在图片中，冥王星很小，是一个高度像素化的斑点，但研究人员能看到其表面有些非常奇怪的东西。

"It’s rare to see any planet in the solar system, at this low resolution, displaying such strong surface markings. If you had similar images of Mercury, or images of even Mars, you would not see the same kinds of big surface units going by as you do here on Pluto. That’s very promising," New Horizons lead scientist Alan Stern, with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told reporters during a conference call.

“这种情况在太阳系的其他星球上很难看到，在如此低分辨率情况下能显示出如此显著的表面标记。如果对比水星或者火星类似的图片，无法看到像冥王星表面那样巨大的特征。这里面大有文章。”“新地平线”号项目负责人、科罗拉多州博尔德市西南研究所的Alan Stern在电话采访中告诉记者。

Because Pluto is tipped onto its side, similar to Uranus, New Horizons has a steady gaze on one of its polar regions, which appears in the images to be consistently brighter than other areas. Scientists suspect the pole is covered by a highly reflective cap of nitrogen ice.

由于冥王星同天王星一样向一侧倾斜，“新地平线”号能够一直观察到其极地范围，在图片中比其他部分的亮度要大很多，研究人员推测冥王星的极地区域被高反射率的氮冰极冠覆盖。

New Horizons has been traveling toward Pluto for 9.5 years. In the interim, Pluto, which was once considered the ninth and outermost planet in the solar system, was demoted to "dwarf planet" status after scientists discovered other similar icy bodies in solar system’s back yard.

“新地平线”号在9.5年前发射前往冥王星，这一曾经被认为是第九大行星也是太阳系最外侧的行星，在科研人员发现遥远的太阳系同样存在类似的冰封星球后，被降级为矮行星。

As scientists prepare for their first close-up views of Pluto, another mission at the innermost planet is coming to an end.

在科研人员准备首次近距离观察冥王星的同时，对太阳系最深处的行星的探测任务却即将结束。

Out of fuel after four years in orbit, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft is expected to make a crash landing into Mercury on Thursday.

美国宇航局的“信使号”探测器在水星轨道上运行了四年之后，由于燃料耗尽，计划将于周三撞向水星。

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来源:China Daily 英语新闻爱语吧作者:孙梦光