2015年2月4日,美国宇航局公布了“新地平线号”探测器最新拍摄的冥王星及其卫星图像。2006年1月19日从佛罗里达州飞向太空的探测器,历时9年终于到达冥王星。图像上赫然出现一个心形,其实是气体凝固后的冰层覆盖的区域。
根据图像,科学家还认为冥王星有活跃的地质活动,但这不代表它就是颗行星。2006年8月24日国际天文学联合会大会上,冥王星被投票确定为太阳系的“矮行星”,从而也被踢出了九大行星的圈子。当然,这一决议引来了不少争议。
除了Sputnik Planum,本篇单词没有太难的,但就是得记得,行星首字母要大写,地球(Earth)也不例外。
没听清楚的句子:And then the New Horizon spacecraft take 9 years to get there.
Sputnik Planum: 斯帕尼克平原(冥王星上的心形区域)
nitrogen: 氮
methane: 甲烷
carbon monoxide: 一氧化碳
音频下载及链接:
3种语速的音频文件已上传百度云:链接| 密码: ez6k(在百度云点击MP3文件名可直接在线听)(原始语速来自A Moment of Science官网,1.5倍及2.0倍语速版本为我个人后期调整的)
本期文章原始音频、配图及文本均来自A Moment of Science官网:链接
文本:(参照源网页的文字、根据实际录音内容修改而成):
Y: We finally make it to Pluto, Don.
D: That's right, Yaya. And then the New Horizon spacecraft take nine years to get there.
Y: Pluto is over 4.5 billion miles from Earth. Even with a speed of 39,000 miles per hour, it still takes a long time to travel that far. But it was worth the long wait.
D: I bet scientists were surprised to find Pluto has a heart.
Y: What looks like a heart-shaped area in Pluto’s Sputnik Planum region is really ice. The area measures about a thousand miles across. That's the size of Texas. And it’s not water ice. It’s made up of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide is thickest in the whiter areas of the heart.
D: Those are common gases here on Earth. Are you telling me they are solids and not gases on Pluto?
Y: Yes, Don. Being so very far from the sun, Pluto is a super cold place. The gases remain frozen, but not permanent. High resolution photos suggest that Pluto’s ice may have moved recently, like glaciers here on Earth. That means there has been some geological activity, at least within the last 100 million years. The ice also has dark streaks that are a few miles long. These are aligned in the same direction and may have been produced by winds blowing across the surface.
D: Winds?
Y: Pluto also has an atmosphere that extends about 80 miles above the surface.
D: So, Pluto isn’t just a dead rock like our moon.
Y: No. It appears to be geologically active.
D: Like a planet?
Y: Oh no, Don. We are not starting the "Pluto is a planet" argument again.
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