英语科普小知识 寻找行星的新方法.docVIP

Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small,?faint（模糊的）, and close to their stars. The two most?prolific（丰富的）?techniques for finding exoplanets are radial velocity (looking for?wobbling摇晃的?stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). A team at Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einsteins special theory of relativity. We are looking for very subtle effects. We needed high quality measurements of stellar brightnesses, accurate to a few parts per million, said team member David Latham of the CfA. ? This was only possible because of the?exquisite（精致的，细腻的）?data NASA is collecting with the Kepler spacecraft, added lead author Simchon Faigler of Tel Aviv University, Israel. ? Although Kepler was designed to find transiting planets, this planet was not identified using the transit method. Instead, it was discovered using a technique first proposed by Avi Loeb of the CfA and his colleague Scott Gaudi (now at Ohio State University) in 2003. (Coincidentally, they developed their theory while visiting the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein once worked.) ? The new method looks for three small effects that occur simultaneously as a planet orbits the star. Einsteins beaming effect causes the star to brighten as it moves toward us, tugged by the planet, and dim as it moves away. The brightening results from photons piling up in energy, as well as light getting focused in the direction of the stars motion due to relativistic effects. ? This is the first time that this aspect of Einsteins theory of relativity has been used to discover a planet, said co-author Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University. 检测外星世界提出了一个重大的挑战，因为他们是小，昏（模糊的），接近其恒星。这两个最丰富（丰富的）技术寻找系外行星的径向速度（期待摇晃摇晃的明星）和过境（调光星）。特拉维夫大学和哈佛-史密森天体物理中心（CfA）的一个团队在刚刚发现的系外行星，采用了全新的方法，它依赖于爱因斯坦的狭义相对论。“我们正在寻找非常微妙的影响，我们需要高品质测量恒星亮度，精确到百万分之几，说：”小组成员大卫·莱瑟姆终审法院。 ? “这是唯一可能的，因为精致（精