太阳系外八颗新行星中包括“外星球”

天文学家说在遥远的太阳系外最新发现的八颗新行星中的一颗是“最类似地球的外星球”。这八颗类地行星是由美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的开普勒太空望远镜所探测出的。此探测结果是在美国天文学会的一次会议上公布的。以下是 BBC 记者 Jonathan Webb 的报道：

Spotting ‘Alien Earths’ is the reason the Kepler spacecraft was launched six years ago. It looks deep into space for tell-tale dips in the brightness of faraway stars.

Eight new so-called exoplanets were revealed here, taking Kepler’s overall tally to more than 1,000. But only very few planets from that total are thought to be Earth-like and habitable, sitting in a temperate Goldilocks zone around their various suns.

One of the new arrivals, called Kepler 438b, is the most like our home that astronomers have ever seen: just 12% bigger than Earth and 40% warmer.

They say if we could stand on its surface, nearly 500 light years away, the sky would be red because of the dwarf star it has for a sun.

Glossary 词汇表

tell-tale 泄露内情的

faraway 遥远的

exoplanet 外星球

tally 累计数字，总数

habitable 可居住的

Goldilocks zone 适居带

light years 光年

dwarf star 矮星