[REBORN FROM THE ASHES][comment][01.06]

中原527UID: 2707367

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1042733-1-2.html
Planet hunting
Looking in the shadowsJan 5th 2010
From Economist.com
The search for a second Earth gets serious


IN THE 19th century astronomers spent a lot of time seeking shadows crossing the sun. They were searching for Vulcan, a putative planet inside the orbit of Mercury, by looking for its transits. These are the moments when, viewed from Earth, the hypothetical planet would cross the solar disc. Sadly, there was no Vulcan to be found, but the method itself is sound, and it is the modus operandi of Kepler, an American spacecraft that has been trailing the Earth, in the same orbit, since March 2009.

Kepler is a telescope that looks simultaneously and continuously at more than 150,000 stars, recording the amount of light coming from them. It is seeking the tiny, periodic diminutions of illumination caused by planetary transits and, on January 4th, the team running it announced that five such patterns had shown up in the first six weeks of the probe’s operation.

The past 15 years have shown that planets are commonplace. More than 400 have been located around stars other than the sun, by looking for the wobbles in parent stars that orbiting planets cause. A decent wobble, though, requires a massive planet, so the wobble method does not favour the discovery of Earth-sized objects. Kepler, however, can find such planets.
The Earth itself, in transit, reduces the amount of light an observer would see from the sun by about 0.01%.（这个百分比是指啥？） That is well within Kepler’s range.

In fact, the planets found so far are significantly larger than Earth. Four are about the size of Jupiter and one about the size of Neptune. They also have much shorter orbits, ranging from 3.3 to 4.9 terrestrial days. Neither of these facts is surprising. Even using the transit method, big planets are easier to spot than small ones, and to be sure that a flicker in brightness is caused by a planet rather than some property of the star itself, it must occur at regular and predictable intervals. Hundreds of flickers that might have been caused by planets with longer orbits have been seen, but have not yet have been confirmed as transits.



What this does mean, though, is that the planets in question are are much closer to their stars than Earth is, and thus much hotter (1200-1650ºC), as well as being larger. （两个are不懂...）But they are not as hot as the most peculiar discoveries Kepler has made. These are two planet-sized objects that are far hotter (at 12,000ºC) than their distances from their parent stars suggest they should be. That means they are giving out energy of their own, yet they are too small to be stars. One theory is that they are youngsters, giving off heat as they collapse inwards due to the pull of their own gravity, but nobody knows for sure.

None of these discoveries favours the underlying reason why planet-hunting is such a popular sport—the hope that, one day, a life-bearing planet will turn up. For that, more numbers will have to be crunched, and planetary atmospheres analysed for signs of oxygen. The hunt, however, is on in earnest. If Earth-sized planets are out there, they will soon be found.

Comments:
When we can see the universe by using our observing invention, we will feel curious whether there is any a life-bearing planet or not. In scientific common sense in the past that the wobble should require a massive planet, however, Kepler, the telescope of the America spacecraft , can find such planets against the rules. the planets that had been found up to date are significantly larger than Earth. Even though there were not significant discoveries about the planet that the creature can live in, the planet-hunting is such a popular sport.


sence>sense
signful>significant
putative adj.
Generally regarded as such; supposed;
supposed
orbit n.轨道，势力范围
Mercury 水星
hypothetical
a.假定的，假设的，有待证实的
the modus operandi
n.做法，惯技
illumination n.光源，强度，照明
Wobble n.The act or an instance of wobbling; unsteady motion.
A tremulous, uncertain tone or sound:
a vocal wobble.
Neptune 海王星
Jupiter 木星
flicker
n.
A brief movement; a tremor.
An inconstant or wavering light.
A brief or slight sensation:
a flicker of doubt.
Slang A movie.
interval n.间隙
in earnest 认真的诚挚的
crunch v.
2.（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

AdelineShenUID: 2630498

After reading the article, another image comes to me, that is, the aliens. Whether there are aliens out of our planet? It is a mystry which confused all the humanity for a long time. There are science fictions depicting the pictures and stories of aliens who come from the outer space and aim to attack earth. We have a plenty of examples when science fictions become true. With the devlopment of economy and the continual increase of population, many people worry that the earth, our only hometown, might someday fail to burden the demand of human beings. The natural resources are going to be used up. The air and lands are polluted severely. As a matter of fact, scientists are trying their best to discovery another planet like the earth.

Such kind of reserch needs faith and confidence. It is a long way before we can discovery something similar to the earth. But scientists should believe that there exiests a planet like the earth, which might save the whole future generation of human beings if explored.

爱妳不变UID: 2733836

This short article tells us that our scientists are trying to find a planet that are accommodating to our humans

qisaimanUID: 2703629

No,you are wrong....

How can a planet wobble its parent star?
hugesea 发表于 2010-1-7 21:51

I insist on my views. you can google "planet wobble " and you will find it.
as a proof, see here :http://blogs.discovermagazine.co ... s-a-massive-planet/

kulewy531UID: 2603031

28# hugesea
I agree with hugesea's opinion. According to M-W dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms, wabble means shaking like jelly.

sunflower_irisUID: 2720580

COMMENT
I really know little about astronomy. Even though I took an elective course of this subject five years ago, I did not learn much about it since the course was too boring to put my mind on.

Back to this article, Deterioration of environment, limited sources of energy and rapid growing of population seem shorten the distance to doomsday, which worries people about how to survive. Thus, astronomers provide a way that living in another earth-like planet to solve this problemthe. So the hope of finding a life-bearing planet make planet-hunting more and more popular.

Kepler furthers the method of seeking shadows crossing the sun by seeking the tiny, periodic diminutions of illumination caused by planetary transits and proves itself be more effective and accurate. It gets some achievements but still not favour the hope. I believe after generations we will find a earth-size planet in the universe, or out of maybe, but that still leave a queation that how can we move to.

番茄斗斗UID: 2720914

modus operandi(工作方法)
The hunt, however, is on in earnest（坚定的，严肃的）

COMMENT:
Facing with the increasingly serious food shortage, environmental pollution and etc,such is human nature to find another planet instead.
As the article mentioned, Kelper has broken the common understanding of man's attitude toward planet.By observing periodic diminutions of illumination caused by planetary transits, Kelper enables the discovery of earth-sized objects.And now it proves to be a better method and what matters is only the time.
Planet-hunting,from the ancient age, never disappears in scientists' view. With the advent of advanced technology, mankind are stepping much nearer to our dream planet, much easier, much in earnest.

doodaUID: 2712643

21# rodgood

当你用一个铁链子抡一个大铁球的时候，如果铁球足够大，你是不是也被wobble了.这就是恒星和较大行星间的关系。:)

jilinlinUID: 2396929

Comments:01.06
Exciting it is when we talk about hunting a life-bearing planet. Human beings have done many efforts to explore the universe just as we launch telescopes like Kepler into space, use the most advanced factilities to research and analyze stars, planets, interstellar matter, cosmic rays and so on. Every novel phenomenon will excite and inspire us, through which we assume, overturn or prove some theories. The most peculiar discoveries recently mentioned in the article are that two planet-sized objects are far hotter than their distances from their parent stars suggest they should be. Whether this means planets will also burn themselves or some other explanations needs astronomers’ further researches. I think it is human’s natural curiosity to incite us to explore unknown world.

splendidsunUID: 2723757

1-6
Comment：
Scientists are trying to find another earth-sized object by exerting the method of seeking the transit of the object. Actually, I don't think that it is possible to find another one to replace the earth in short term. When seeking ones, we need to take many valuable parameters such as the distance from the sun, temperature, atmosphere, gravity and water-existence into consideration to meet all the needs for human to survive. But the facts tell us that it is not a easy case.
Why do human beings try to find another planet all the time? It might be a way to run away from the bad behaviors that people had conducted before. In order to make a high-speed development, environment and natural resources were sacrificed as counters. Instead of changing their behaviors, human beings are trying to find another place so as to move to it when the earth could not bear the burden. As we all known, we only have one earth. There couldn't be any other planet in solar system that is decent for human to live in. The most practical method is protecting our environment and living harmonious with nature on the earth.

错字
Astomosphere—atmosphere
Sacrified-sacrificed
Bahaviors—behavior
Pratical—practical

Words:
putative 推定的，假定的
Mercury水星
wobble 摆动
decent得体的，恰当的
Jupiter木星
Neptune海王星
peculiar罕见的
turn up出现
in earnest 诚挚的，认真的

好句
None of these discoveries favours the underlying reason why planet-hunting is such a popular sport—the hope that, one day, a life-bearing planet will turn up.
抽象句型
None of A favors the underlying reason why B.
A中没有任何可以支持为什么B的原因。