2021考研英语阅读材料：惊现“三体”行星”

Our Sun is a lone wolf of a star, but out there in the wider Universe, stars are often locked in adance with others, orbiting a mutual centre of gravity.

我们的太阳是一颗独狼恒星。但是在广袤的宇宙，恒星通常与其他星球锁在一起，围绕一个相互的重力中心旋转。

In one such triple-star system, astronomers have just found an exoplanet.

在一个这样的三星系统中，天文学家刚发现了一颗系外行星。

It has the rather catchy name LTT 1445Ab, as it orbits the primary star of three red dwarfsthat constitute the system LTT 1445, located around 22.5 light-years away.

这颗星球有个很惹眼的名字：LTT1445Ab。因为它围绕着组成LTT1445系统的三颗红矮星构成的主恒星旋转，距离地球约22.5光年。

"If you're standing on the surface of that planet, there are three suns in the sky, but two ofthem are pretty far away and small-looking," astronomer Jennifer Winters of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told New Scientist.

哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心的天文学家詹妮弗·温特斯说，“如果你站在那颗星球的表面，就能看到天空中有三个太阳。但是其中的两个离得很远，看起来很小。”

"They're like two red, ominous eyes in the sky."

“他们就像天空中两只红色的不祥眼睛。”

Her team's research has been submitted to The Astronomical Journal, so we can expect it to bepeer-reviewed soon.

她团队的研究已经提交给了《天文学期刊》。因此应该很快就可以进行同行评议了。

The planet was discovered by TESS, NASA's planet-hunting space telescope designed to findexoplanets that pass between us and their home star, by detecting the telltale dimming as theplanet blocks a small percentage of the star's light.

这颗行星是由美国航空航天局的行星猎手太空望远镜TESS发现的。TESS的使命是过检测行星阻隔恒星一小部分光线时指示性的变暗来寻找系外行星。这些行星经过地球和他们的主恒星之间。

The depth of dimming, and the tiny movements of the star as it is very slightly pulled by theplanet's gravity (detected with other telescopes), allow scientists to place constraints on thesize and mass of the planet.

科学家过变暗的程度以及恒星被行星重力牵引时微小的运动(由其他望远镜探测)得出行星大小和质量的范围。

LTT 1445Ab is very different from the 2016 discovery of HD 131399Ab, another exoplanet withthree suns.

LTT1445Ab与2016年发现的另一个有“三个太阳”的系外行星HD 131399Ab差别很大。

The latter is a giant with a 550-year orbit around one of the stars in a triple system 340 light-years away.

后者十分巨大，距离地球约340光年，每550年绕三星系统中的一颗恒星旋转一圈。