With all the large asteroids hitting the news lately, it would have been easy for a small one to sneak under the radar. In fact, one very nearly did. On April 27, astronomers discovered a new asteroid, a little pixie of a space rock between 4 and 8 metres (13 to 26 feet) across.
最近很多大型小行星登上新聞，小號(hào)的小行星就很容易從雷達(dá)下溜走。有一顆小行星就差點(diǎn)溜掉了。4月27日，天文學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了一顆新的小行星，是一小塊太空巖石，直徑在4到8米（13到26英尺）之間。

It was already close to Earth at this point, and the probability of a collision was calculated at around 10 percent. At its size, it would have burnt up on atmospheric entry, so it posed no threat to humans anyway.
此時(shí)已經(jīng)距離地球很近了，撞擊概率是10%左右。這個(gè)尺寸的小行星進(jìn)入大氣層就會(huì)燒毀，所以對(duì)人類(lèi)沒(méi)有威脅。

But the asteroid's trajectory would bring it very close to the geostationary ring, the volume of space around Earth in which bodies can maintain geostationary orbit. That space is packed with satellites.
但這顆小行星的軌道使它非常靠近地球靜止環(huán)，這是地球周?chē)囊徊糠挚臻g，其中的物體可以在地球靜止軌道內(nèi)運(yùn)行。這一空間里到處都是衛(wèi)星。

On April 28, this asteroid - later named 2020 HS7 - skimmed past Earth at a distance around nine times closer than the average distance of the Moon.
4月28日，這顆后來(lái)被命名為2020 HS7的小行星掠過(guò)地球，最近距離比地月平均距離近9倍。

At a distance of 42,735 kilometres (26,554 miles) from the centre of Earth - the Earth-Moon distance is 384,400 kilometres (238,855 miles) from centre to centre on average - 2020 HS7 pulled off one of the closest asteroid flybys we've ever seen.
地心到月球中心的地月平均距離是384,400千米（238,855英里），2020 HS7距地心最近距離是42,735千米（26,554英里），是我們所見(jiàn)過(guò)的掠過(guò)地球時(shí)距離最近的小行星。

And it skimmed the nearest satellite by just 1,200 kilometres (746 miles). That may sound a bit scary, but neither we nor our satellites were in any particular danger.
它與離它最近的衛(wèi)星之間的距離僅為1,200千米（746英里）。這可能聽(tīng)起來(lái)有點(diǎn)嚇人，但我們和衛(wèi)星都沒(méi)有太大的危險(xiǎn)。

"Small asteroids like 2020 HS7 safely pass by Earth a few times per month," said astronomer Lindley Johnson of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office just prior to the flyby. "It poses no threat to our planet."
美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局行星防御協(xié)調(diào)辦公室的天文學(xué)家Lindley Johnson在小行星掠過(guò)之前說(shuō)：“像2020 HS7這樣小型的小行星每個(gè)月都會(huì)安全掠過(guò)地球幾次，對(duì)地球并無(wú)威脅?！?/div>

In fact, 2020 HS7 was a good thing. It allowed scientists to test their detection, observation, follow-up and prediction capabilities on a small near-Earth asteroid. And they showed they were able to predict and track the path of 2020 HS7 with incredible accuracy, even with just a day's notice.
其實(shí)2020 HS7掠過(guò)是好事，讓科學(xué)家能測(cè)試一下他們對(duì)小型近地小行星的探測(cè)、觀(guān)測(cè)、跟蹤和預(yù)測(cè)能力。而現(xiàn)在的結(jié)果是，即使只是提前一天得知，他們也能以驚人的精度預(yù)測(cè)并追蹤2020 HS7的路徑。

?

翻譯：菲菲