關于太空的驚人事實

Sunsets on Mars are blue.

火星的晚霞是藍色的。

The Curiosity Mars rovers first color photograph of a sunset in 2015 revealed a surprising twist—sunsets on Mars are blue.

NASA said this is because “dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors” like yellow， orange， and red.

2015年，“好奇號”火星探測器拍下第一張彩色日落照，這讓人們驚訝地發現，火星的晚霞是藍色的。

美國宇航局表示，這是由于火星大氣層的塵埃顆粒較小，散射藍光的能力強于長波顏色，如黃色、橙色、紅色。

Space is full of “space junk”.

太空里全是“垃圾”。

Space is full of junk like used rocket parts and dead satellites. These objects continue to orbit Earth at about 17，500 mph—10 times as fast as a speeding bullet.

The Space Surveillance Network （SSN） keeps track of how much debris is out there. The SSN is currently tracking 23，000 objects larger than a softball.

Space junk is dangerous because one collision could trigger a chain reaction of objects hitting each other， resulting in a thick cloud of debris that would make space travel extremely dangerous.

太空里全是垃圾，如報廢的火箭部件和衛星。它們繼續以約17 500英里的時速繞行地球——是子彈飛行速度的10倍。

美國太空監視網一直在追蹤太空中的垃圾數量，目前共有2.3萬件體積大于壘球的太空垃圾。

太空垃圾非常危險，因為它們一旦發生碰撞，就可能會造成連鎖反應，由此產生的厚厚的“垃圾云”會讓太空飛行變得極為危險。

The Apollo astronauts footprints on the moon could last up to 100 million years.

“阿波羅”宇航員在月球表面留下的腳印可存在1億年。

Moon rocks erode at a rate of 0.04 inches （about 0.1 centimetres） every 1 million years. This means that the astronauts footprints on the moon from the Apollo mission in 1969 could be there for 10 to 100 million years.

月球巖石的侵蝕速率為0.04英寸（約0.1厘米）/100萬年。也就是說，1969年美國宇航員執行阿波羅任務時在月球表面留下的腳印能夠存在1千萬年到1億年。

Space isnt always cold. In fact， it can get pretty hot.

太空不總是冰冷的。事實上，它可以很炎熱。

In the darkest parts of space， temperatures can reach -454 degrees Fahrenheit （about -270 celsius degrees）. But if youre orbiting near Earth in the sunlight， it can reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit （about 120 celsius degrees）. Astronauts spacesuits are white to reflect the heat they encounter while floating above the Earth.

在太空最陰暗的地帶，溫度可達零下454華氏度（約零下270攝氏度）;但若處于地球附近的陽光里，溫度可達250華氏度（約120攝氏度）。宇航員的太空服是白色的，在他們漂浮在地球上方時，白色太空服可以隔絕熱氣。

A year on Venus is shorter than a day there.

金星的一年比一天短。

Venus spins very slowly in the opposite direction of Earth— 243 Earth days for a full rotation. But it only takes 225 days to go around the sun because its so close to it. Therefore， a year on Venus is shorter than a day.

金星自轉速度很慢，而且和地球自轉方向相反——金星自轉一周需要243個地球日，但金星繞太陽公轉一周僅需225個地球日，因為金星離太陽很近。因此，金星的一年比一天短。

The International Space Station （ISS） is the size of a football field.

國際空間站和美式橄欖球場差不多大。

The International Space Station is 357 feet （about 109 metres） long， just 3 feet （about 0.9 metre） less than an American football field. It weighs 925，000 pounds （about 84 kilograms） and is the largest single human-made structure to ever enter space.

The ISS has been visited by 230 people from 18 different countries to conduct research and carry out missions.

國際空間站長357英寸（約109米），只比美式橄欖球場少3英寸（約0.9米），重92.5萬英鎊（約84萬千克），是迄今為止太空中最大的人造建筑物。

已有來自18個國家的230人到訪過國際空間站，開展研究和執行任務。

You would last about 15 seconds in space without a spacesuit.

若沒有太空服，你能在太空中堅持15秒左右。

Because theres no pressure in space， air expands. This means the air inside your lungs would expand and tear through the tissue. And in such an extreme environment， your body would use up all of the oxygen in your blood in about 15 seconds. Other gruesome consequences of unprotected space exposure would include loss of bowel control， boiling blood， exploding capillaries， and bloating.

由于太空中沒有壓力，空氣膨脹。這意味著你肺部內的空氣會膨脹并撕裂組織。在這種極端環境中，身體會在15秒內耗光血液中的氧氣。此外，還會出現其他的可怕狀況：大便失禁、血液沸騰、毛細血管爆裂、身體膨脹。

Outer space isnt empty space.

太空并非完全真空。

Besides the obvious stars and planets， you might think that the surrounding space is completely empty—a perfect vacuum devoid of all matter.

Its true that space is a vacuum， but its an imperfect vacuum because it contains a low density of particles like clouds of interstellar dust， space plasma， and cosmic rays.

你或許認為，除了恒星和行星外，太空是完全的真空，是不存在任何物質的完全真空。

沒錯，太空是真空的，但它并非完全真空。它還含有星際塵埃云、空間等離子體、宇宙射線等低密度物質。

Word Study

encounter /?n'ka?nt?/ v. 遇到;遭遇

The doctor had encountered several similar cases in the past.

expand /?k'sp?nd/ v. 膨脹;擴大

Engineers noticed that the pipes were not expanding as expected.