现在我们对Europa的地下海洋有了更多的线索
现在我们对Europa的地下海洋有了更多的线索
Space water already gushes into the void from Saturn’s frozen moon Enceladus, meaning there is probably a vast ocean beneath the surface, and astronomers are now that much closer to proving the same phenomenon happens on the icy orb Europa.
太空中的水已经从土星的冰冻卫星Enceladus中涌出，这意味着在Enceladus的地表下可能有一个巨大的海洋，而天文学家现在更接近于证明在冰冷的天体 Europa上也发生同样的现象。
Europa is Jupiter’s fourth largest moon in the solar system. There has been no hard evidence that plumes of water vapor really do explode from cracks in the ice, and even NASA sort of misrepresented an observation last year.
Europa是太阳系中木星的第四大卫星。目前还没有确凿的证据表明，大量的水蒸气确实会从冰层的裂缝中喷发出来，甚至美国宇航局(NASA)去年的一次观测也有点失实。
But now scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany are presenting the closest thing we have to definite proof that Europa breathes out water vapor — meaning that it could be hiding a subsurface ocean.
但现在德国马克斯普朗克太阳系研究所(MPS)的科学家们提出了最接近我们所能确定的证据，证明Europa会喷出水蒸气，这意味着它可能隐藏了一个地下海洋。
When NASA’s Galileo probe flew by Europa in 2000, its robotic eye may or may not have seen one of these plumes shooting out of its crust (and that ice can get to be up to 11 miles thick).
当美国航天局(NASA)的伽利略探测器在2000年飞过Europa时，它的机器眼可能看到也可能没有看到从它的地壳中喷出的这些羽流(而这些冰可能厚达11英里)。
While NASA and ESA have found more evidence that could almost certainly — emphasis on almost — mean Europa is a freezing water world, nothing has been proven yet.
虽然美国宇航局和欧洲航天局已经发现了更多的证据，几乎可以肯定(强调几乎)Europa是一个冰水世界，但还没有任何证据被证明。
Its magnetic field is 20 times stronger than Earth’s. When Galileo’s magnetometer showed that its magnetic field had less power near Europa, it was something that might have meant the spacecraft captured evidence of a plume during that flyby.
它的磁场是地球磁场的20倍，当伽利略探测器的磁力计显示它的磁场在Europa附近的能量较低时，这可能意味着航天器在飞过Europa时捕捉到了羽流的迹象。
Another instrument on the probe, its Energetic Particles Detector (EPD), collected more data that was possible evidence of a plume. It found that fewer protons were floating around near Europa than expected.
探测器上的另一个仪器，它的高能粒子探测器(EPD)，收集了更多的数据，可能是羽流存在的证据。它发现在Europa附近漂浮的质子比预期的要少。
Europa orbits in Jupiter’s enormous magnetic grasp, so this was an abnormality that caught scientists’ attention, though some dismissed it as the moon just getting in the way of the EPD as Galileo was trying to observe Jupiter.
Europa在木星巨大的磁场中绕轨道运行，因此这是一个引起科学家注意的异常现象，尽管有些人认为这是因为伽利略探测器试图观测木星时，月球刚好挡住了高能粒子探测器(EPD)的轨道。
In collaboration with ESA scientists, the MPS team recreated the Galileo data to test whether a cryovolcanic eruption was the possible cause of that sudden lapse in magnetic pull. It was an experiment that would only succeed with the assumption that Galileo had run into a plume that disrupted Jupiter’s magnetic field.
MPS团队与欧洲航天局的科学家合作，重现了伽利略探测器的数据，以测试低温火山爆发是否可能是导致磁力突然下降的原因。这个实验只有假设伽利略探测器遇到了扰乱木星磁场的羽流才会成功。
Europa’s thin oxygen atmosphere, and any water that might be released into it, are full of uncharged particles. When high-energy protons crash into such particles, they get extra electrons that take away their charge, and Jupiter’s magnetic field can no longer hold them back.
Europa稀薄的氧气大气，以及任何可能被释放到其中的水，都充满了不带电的粒子。当高能质子撞击这些粒子时，它们会获得额外的电子来带走电荷，而木星的磁场再也无法阻挡它们。
What it probably means is that, just like Enceladus, Europa could have a subsurface ocean in which primitive forms of life may be able to survive.
这可能意味着，就像Enceladus一样，Europa可能拥有一个地下海洋，原始生命形式可能能够在其中生存。
Until then, you can give yourself nightmares about what kind of life-forms could be lurking beneath extraterrestrial ice.
在那之前，你可能会自己做噩梦，想知道在外星冰下潜藏着什么样的生命形式。
