If there's a line in Vegas on the odds of life on another planet, now might be a good time to -1-. A study in the journal Science examined 166 sun-sized stars and found nearly one in four had rocky, earth-sized planets in close,-2-. The finding might chart a new course for extrasolar planet research. Most planet-formation models predict a “planet desert” within one -3- (or the average distance from the Earth to the sun) of a host star. Gaseous planets like Jupiter or Saturn, which form much farther away, on the cold side of what’s called the “ice line,” are thought to be more common. But a team of researchers at Hawaii's Keck observatory -4- on stars similar to our sun. Twenty-three percent ......The researchers say their discovery calls for substantial revisions to current astronomical models.It also makes the possibility of life on some similar planet spinning a similar, habitable distance from its sun seem like -5-.
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽(yù)出品】
place a wager Earth-like orbits astronomical unit cast their eyes a better bet
尋找“地球號(hào)” 如果維加斯有賭桌賭外星球有生命的幾率,現(xiàn)在正是下手的好機(jī)會(huì)?!犊茖W(xué)》雜質(zhì)上的一項(xiàng)研究檢測(cè)了166個(gè)太陽(yáng)大小的恒星,發(fā)現(xiàn)它們附近有近1/4的行星多巖石,地球大小且擁有類地軌道。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可能會(huì)開創(chuàng)系外行星研究新標(biāo)向。 大多數(shù)行星形成模型預(yù)言在主恒星一個(gè)天文單位(或從地球到太陽(yáng)的平均距離)以內(nèi)會(huì)有一個(gè)“沙漠之星”。而像木星或土星這樣的遠(yuǎn)距離氣態(tài)行星則在普通不過,它們冰冷的一面就是所謂的“冰原帶”。 但夏威夷的凱克天文臺(tái)的一個(gè)研究小隊(duì)卻將他們的目光投在了類似太陽(yáng)的恒星上。23%的行星都很小,多巖石,其繞行軌道正處于預(yù)言的“沙漠之星”的活動(dòng)范圍之內(nèi)。 研究人員表示他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)將對(duì)現(xiàn)有的天文模型有實(shí)質(zhì)性的改動(dòng)。對(duì)于那些以適合命生存的距離圍繞著自己的太陽(yáng)運(yùn)行的行星來(lái)說,它們上面存在生命的可能性會(huì)很大。 —Adam Hinterthuer