诙谐的语言,生动的内容一分钟快速掌握科技最新动态


>>本期节目音频下载<<

Saturn's Rings May Be Remnants of a Moon
土星环——卫星的残迹

Galileo first spotted Saturn’s rings 400 years ago.But since then, scientists have been stumped about how they got there.Because the rings are almost pure water ice—and material in the outer solar system is generally an ice-rock mix.But a new analysis in the journal Nature may have solved the mystery.
自四百年前土星环被伽利略首次发现以来,科学家一直难以对其成因做出解释。因为土星环几乎纯粹由水冰构成-而外太阳系的物质构成通常是冰岩混合物。不过,发表在《自然》杂志上的一项新的分析成果或许可以解开谜团。

Today, Saturn's only massive moon is Titan.But Saturn’s fellow gas giant planet Jupiter has four big moons.So Saturn might once have had more—one of which could have had a rocky core surrounded by a shell of water ice.That moon would have interacted with a disk of gas surrounding Saturn at the time, dragging its orbit closer and closer.
现如今,土卫六是土星的唯一一颗大型卫星。而同样是气态行星的木星却有四颗大卫星。所以土星也许曾经有过多个卫星-其中一个可能是由水冰外壳包裹着岩石核心构成。当时,这颗卫星可能与土星周围的气态圆盘互相作用,将其轨道向土星拉近。

As the moon spiraled in, tidal forces would have flexed its icy shell, stripping off chunks to build rings a thousand times more massive than Saturn has today.Eventually, ice boulders in the rings would have smashed into each other, spreading out the rings, and causing the outer edge to spawn icy moons—the small ones we find orbiting Saturn today.
当这颗卫星做螺旋运动逐渐接近土星时,引潮力会不断拉伸和压缩卫星的冰状外壳,将其剥离成块状,形成一个比现在的土星环还要大一千倍的环。最终,土星环中的冰石互相撞击,四散开来,并在土星环外缘形成我们现如今发现绕土星运行的小型冰态卫星。

As for that ancient moon’s rocky core?Saturn probably swallowed it up.Leaving Titan unique.And leaving scientists with a puzzle they finally may have solved.
至于那颗古老卫星的岩石内核呢?大概是土星将它吞噬了。只留下独一无二的土卫六,并留给科学家一个最终可能解开的谜题。

—Christopher Intagliata

点击进入参与科学60秒查看背景资料和单词总结>>>


声明:音视频均来自互联网链接,仅供学习使用。本网站自身不存储、控制、修改被链接的内容。"沪江英语"高度重视知识产权保护。当如发现本网站发布的信息包含有侵犯其著作权的链接内容时,请联系我们,我们将依法采取措施移除相关内容或屏蔽相关链接。