Planets by the Dozen行星是由十多位
By通过 Dr. Tony Phillips博士托尼菲利普斯 | You know the planets of our solar system, each a unique world with its own distinctive appearance, size, and chemistry. |你知道行星，我们的太阳系，每一个独特的世界与自己独特的外观，大小和化学。 Mars, with its bitter-cold, rusty red sands; Venus, a fiery world shrouded in thick clouds of sulfuric acid; sideways Uranus and its strange vertical rings.火星，其惨痛的冷战，生锈的红色砂;金星，一个火热的世界笼罩在厚厚的云层硫酸;侧身天王星和其奇怪的垂直环。 The variety is breathtaking.该品种是激动人心的。
Now imagine the variety that must exist in hundreds of solar systems. 现在想象品种必须存在于数以百计的太阳能系统。 There may be worlds out there that make Venus seem hospitable and Uranus positively upright. 有可能是世界上有使金星似乎热情好客和天王星的积极正派。 Only 20 years ago, astronomers were unsure whether any such worlds existed beyond our own solar system. 只有在20年前，天文学家不能确定是否有任何这样的世界存在超越我们自己的太阳系。 Now, they’ve found more than 280 of them, each with its own planetary “personality,” each a fascinating example of what a world can be. 现在，他们已经找到280多个，其中，每个国家都有它自己的行星“的个性， ”每个有趣的例子，什么样的一个世界可以。
Yet the heyday of planetary discovery is only just beginning. 然而，鼎盛时期，行星的发现只是刚刚开始。 This fall, astronomers will start a massive search for new planets by observing about 11,000 nearby stars over 6 years. 今年秋天，天文学家将展开大规模的寻找新的行星观测约11000附近的星级超过六年。 This number dwarfs the roughly 3,000 stars that astronomers have searched to date for the presence of planets. 这个数字相形见绌大约3000颗星，天文学家已搜查，以日期为在场的行星。 Scientists estimate that the NASA-funded project, called MARVELS (Multi-object Apache Point Observatory Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey), will find at least 150 new planets—perhaps many more. 科学家估计，美国航天局资助的项目，所谓的奇迹（多目标阿帕奇点天文台径向速度外行星大面积调查） ，会发现至少150名新的行星，也许还有更多。
“We’re looking in particular for giant planets like Jupiter,” says Jian Ge, principal investigator for MARVELS and an astronomer at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “我们正在寻找，特别是巨型行星像木星一样，说： ”葛坚，首席调查员为奇迹和一个大学的天文学家在佛罗里达州盖恩斯维尔。 Ge likens big planets to “beacons of a lighthouse” signaling the presence of entire solar systems.葛likens大的行星“的灯塔灯塔”的信号存在，整个太阳能系统。 “Once we find a big planet around a star, we know that smaller planets could be there, too.” “一旦我们发现一个很大的星球周围的明星，我们知道，规模较小的行星可能有，太” 。
MARVELS will do much more than just catalogue a few hundred more planets.奇迹会做更多的不仅仅是目录几百更多的行星。 By surveying the Jupiter-like planets around such a large number of stars, MARVELS aims to give astronomers the data they need to test competing theories for how planetary systems form and evolve.由测量木星一样的行星周围的数目如此庞大的星级，奇迹，目的是让天文学家的数据，他们需要测试的竞争理论如何行星系统的形成和演变。
To look at so many stars, MARVELS will use a telescope that can separately image 60 stars at a time, and this number will eventually be increased to 120 stars.看看这么多颗星，奇迹将使用一个望远镜，可以分开的形象， 60颗星在一时间，这个数字最终将增加至120颗星。 The telescope, which will be housed at the Apache Point Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, has a 2.5 meter primary mirror and a wide field of view that covers 7 square degrees of the sky—an area that would appear 35 times larger than the Moon.望远镜，将安置在阿帕奇点天文台在萨克拉门托的山区新墨西哥，有一个二点五米主镜和一个广泛的视野，涵盖7平方米程度的天空-一个地区将出现35倍，大于在月球上。
An array of 60 fiber-optic threads will carry light from the telescope’s focal plane to highly sensitive interferometers. 一个数组60光纤线程将进行轻，从望远镜的焦平面，以高度敏感的干涉。 These instruments can detect tiny changes in the frequency of a star’s light. 这些文书可以侦测到微小的变化，在频率的明星之光。 How does this help find planets? 如何，这是否帮助寻找行星的呢？ Ge explains: When a star is tugged to and fro by the gravity of an orbiting planet, the star’s light is shifted to and fro in frequency–an effect called the Doppler shift. 戈解释说：当一个明星是调升，以及由来来往往的严重性，轨道的行星，恒星的光，是转移到来回在频率一效应称为多普勒频移。 The powerful gravity of Jupiter-sized planets exerts a big tug on the parent star, making them relatively easy to find using the Doppler shift method. 强大的严重性，木星大小的行星施加的一大拖船上的母公司星，使他们比较容易找到使用多普勒频移的方法。
If Ge and his colleagues see a star’s frequency slowly increasing and decreasing in a repeating cycle over days, weeks, or months, it’sa good bet that a planet is there.如果戈和他的同事们看到一个明星的频率逐渐增加和减少，在一个重复周期超过数日，数周或数月，这是个不错的选择，一个星球上是否有。
Scientists are keen to learn what kinds of stars have orbiting gas giants.科学家们热衷于学习什么样的星级有轨道气体巨人的肩膀上。 One theory for how these planets form predicts that stars rich in heavy elements such as silicon, oxygen, and nickel should be more likely to have Jupiter-like planets.一理论如何这些行星的形式预测，星级丰富的重元素，如硅，氧，和镍应更可能有木星一样的行星。 Imagine a planet-forming disk surrounding such a star: The disk, like the star itself, would be rich in heavy elements.想象一个形成行星的磁盘周边这样一个明星：磁盘一样，明星本身，将丰富的重元素。 Those heavier elements would form rocky chunks in the disk, and these dense chunks would collide and merge to create a “planet seed” with strong enough gravity to gather gas around itself and grow into a behemoth.这些重元素会形成岩石块在磁盘上，这些密集的大块会碰撞和合并，以创造一个“星球种子”与强大的足够重力来收集气体周围的本身和成长为巨头。
So if MARVELS finds more gas giants around stars containing heavier elements, the survey would support this theory.因此，如果奇迹发现更多的天然气巨头左右颗星载有较重的元素，调查会支持这个理论。 But some gas giants might not need these heavy elements to form.但有些气体巨人未必需要这些重元素形成的。 Another theory suggests that Jupiter-like planets can arise simply because a disturbance in the planet-forming disk starts the gravitational collapse of a region of gas and dust—no seed required.另一种理论表明，木星一样的行星可能出现仅仅因为一个干扰，在形成行星的磁盘启动引力的崩溃，一个地区的气体和尘埃-没有种子所需。
By examining a large number of stars with a variety of heavy element fractions, MARVELS may be able to distinguish between these two ideas.通过审查了大量的星级与各种重元素组分，奇迹也许能够区分这两个想法。
Data from MARVELS will also shed light on other questions about planet formation, such as how often the orbits of gas giants migrate closer to their stars, and how planets sometimes end up with highly eccentric orbits instead of the nearly circular orbits predicted by theory.从数据的奇迹也将揭示了其他的问题行星形成，例如如何，往往轨道气体巨人迁移更接近他们的星级，以及如何行星，有时年底与高度偏心的轨道，而是近圆形轨道上所预言的理论。 By surveying an unprecedented number of stars, MARVELS could deliver the data scientists need to find patterns about the conditions most favorable for planet creation, knowledge that can guide future, detailed observations of individual stars.由测量了数目空前的星级，奇迹可以提供的数据，科学家们需要寻找模式的有关情况最有利的行星创造，知识能够指导今后，详细观察个别星级。
Follow-up observations might eventually use space telescopes powerful enough to make out the rough appearance of those many worlds.后续行动的意见，最终可能会利用太空望远镜的强大足以令出粗糙的外观，这些很多的世界。 The planets we know may only hint at the marvels waiting … out there.行星我们知道，可能只是暗示，在等待的奇迹…在那里。
See More: 看到更多的： Science 科学 Space 空间Have Your Say: Planets by the Dozen 你说：行星是由十多位
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