美國宇航局發(fā)現(xiàn)了第一顆可能適合人類居住的地球大小的行星

美國宇航局發(fā)現(xiàn)了第一顆可能適合人類居住的地球大小的行星

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has made an exciting new discovery that could help further the search to find a future home for the human race.

美國宇航局的凌日系外行星勘測衛(wèi)星(TESS)有了一項令人興奮的新發(fā)現(xiàn)，這可能有助于進(jìn)一步尋找人類未來的家園。

BEN BOLTON

The planet hunter, as the spacecraft is also known, found its first Earth-sized planet in a zone where conditions may allow the presence of liquid water on the surface.

“行星獵人”號(也被稱為“行星獵人”)發(fā)現(xiàn)了它的第一顆地球大小的行星，它所在的區(qū)域的條件可能允許火星表面存在液態(tài)水。

The potentially habitable planet named TOI 700 d is located 100 light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado.

這顆被命名為TOI 700d的宜居行星位于100光年之外的南天星座多拉多。

"TESS was designed and launched specifically to find Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars," said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "Planets around nearby stars are easiest to follow-up with larger telescopes in space and on Earth. Discovering TOI 700 d is a key science finding for TESS. Confirming the planet's size and habitable zone status with Spitzer is another win for Spitzer as it approaches the end of science operations this January."

位于華盛頓特區(qū)的NASA總部天體物理學(xué)部門主任保羅·赫茲說:“TESS的設(shè)計和發(fā)射是專門用來尋找繞著附近的恒星運行的地球大小的行星。“在太空和地球上，用更大的望遠(yuǎn)鏡追蹤附近恒星周圍的行星是最容易的。對TESS來說，發(fā)現(xiàn)TOI 700d是一個關(guān)鍵的科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)。斯皮策太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡確認(rèn)了這顆行星的大小和適居帶的狀態(tài)，這是斯皮策太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡在今年1月科學(xué)實驗接近尾聲時取得的又一次勝利。”

Scientists used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to confirm the findings and have modeled the planet's potential environment to inform future observations.

科學(xué)家們利用美國宇航局的斯皮策太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡確認(rèn)了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)，并模擬了這顆行星的潛在環(huán)境，為未來的觀測提供信息。

TOI 700 is a small, cool M dwarf star. It's roughly 40% of the sun's mass and size, and about half the sun's surface temperature. TOI 700d is one of three planets tidally locked to the dwarf star, which was originally misclassified as being similar to our sun.

toi700是一顆小而涼爽的M型矮星。它的質(zhì)量和大小大約是太陽的40%，表面溫度大約是太陽的一半。TOI 700d是被潮汐鎖定在矮星上的三顆行星之一，它最初被錯誤地歸類為與我們的太陽相似。

"When we corrected the star's parameters, the sizes of its planets dropped, and we realized the outermost one was about the size of Earth and in the habitable zone," said Emily Gilbert, a graduate student at the University of Chicago. "Additionally, in 11 months of data we saw no flares from the star, which improves the chances TOI 700 d is habitable and makes it easier to model its atmospheric and surface conditions."

芝加哥大學(xué)研究生艾米麗·吉爾伯特說，“當(dāng)我們修正了這顆恒星的參數(shù)后，它的行星尺寸減小了，我們意識到最外層的行星與地球差不多大，而且位于宜居帶。”“此外，在11個月的數(shù)據(jù)中，我們沒有看到來自這顆恒星的耀斑，這增加了TOI 700d適合居住的機會，并使其更容易建立其大氣和表面條件的模型。”

The other two planets orbiting the star, TOI 700 b and c, were found to be too rocky or gassy to be inhabitable. While we don't know the exact conditions on TOI 700 d, NASA scientists say they can use what we do know — like the planet’s size and the type of star it orbits — to make predictions about what's possible on this newfound planet.

另外兩顆圍繞這顆恒星運行的行星，TOI 700b和c，被發(fā)現(xiàn)巖石或氣體太多，不適合居住。雖然我們不知道TOI 700d上的確切情況，但NASA的科學(xué)家們說他們可以利用我們所知道的——比如這顆行星的大小和它所環(huán)繞的恒星的類型——來預(yù)測這顆新發(fā)現(xiàn)的行星上可能存在的情況。