《中英對照讀新聞》Saturn’s rings are dense clumps, study finds 研究發現 土星環是密集塊狀物
◎胡立宗



Saturn’s rings may look smooth and even when viewed through a telescope but they are in fact made up of clumps of particles and may be much denser than realized, scientists said on Tuesday.

土星環也許看起來很平滑，甚至從天文望遠鏡裡看去也是一樣；但土星環事實上是由許多粒子組成的塊狀物質所構成，而且比想像中的還要密集，科學家週二表示。


Measurements taken from the joint NASA, Italian and European Space Agency Cassini spacecraft show that the particles in Saturn’s B ring are constantly colliding, which surprised scientists.

檢視由美國航太總署、義大利及歐洲太空總署合作的卡西尼號太空船任務的資料後發現，土星B環的顆粒一直不斷互相碰撞，這讓科學家感到驚訝。


"The rings are different from the picture we had in our minds," said Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who led the study done using ultraviolet imaging.

「照片上的土星環跟我們想的樣子不一樣」，負責運用紫外線成像完成該研究的科羅拉多大學波德分校的拉瑞．艾斯波西多表示。


"We originally thought we would see a uniform cloud of particles. Instead we find that the particles are clumped together with empty spaces in between."

「我們原以為會看到整齊劃一的粒子雲。結果發現粒子聚成一團，中間帶點空隙。」


That means scientists have underestimated the mass of Saturn’s rings. They may be two to three times denser than previous estimates, the researchers said.

這項結果代表科學家們低估了土星環的質量。土星環質量可能是原先推估的兩到三倍，研究人員說。


新聞辭典


clump：名詞，樹叢、一堆、一塊、一團；動詞，拖行，聚成一團、凝結成塊。The flies clumped together. （蒼蠅聚成一團。）


collide：動詞，碰撞、相撞、抵觸。collision，名詞，碰撞、相撞、牴觸。collision of interests：（各方）利益相互牴觸，互不相讓。


underestimate：動詞，低估。We underestimated the scope of the fallout.（我們錯估情勢。）