NASA scientist ‘convinced’ there’s life on planet in our solar system
美国国家航空航天局科学家“确信”太阳系某行星上存在生命
A NASA scientist has hinted at the possibility of life existing in the seas of a dwarf planet, stating that astrobiologists are constantly “surprised” by the level of activity on the outer edges of our solar system.
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的一位科学家暗示，在一颗矮行星的海域中可能存在生命，并表示天体生物学家不断为我们太阳系边缘的天体活动程度所“震惊”。
Ceres, technically an asteroid but classified as a dwarf planet due to its mass being shaped by gravity, could still harbour liquid water and potentially life, according to NASA’s Dr David Grinspoon. It comes as NASA scientists spotted an object in space last week that looks just like the sorting hat from Harry Potter.
据 NASA 的戴维·格林斯彭博士称，谷神星在技术上属于小行星，但由于其质量受重力作用而形成一定形状，故被归类为矮行星，它可能仍蕴藏着液态水，甚至可能存在生命。就在上周，NASA 的科学家在太空中发现了一个物体，其外观酷似《哈利·波特》中的分院帽。
The exploration of this peculiar planet has yielded more intriguing results than researchers initially anticipated. Speaking to WIRED, Grinspoon said: “Recently we sent a space craft there and we found some surprising things.”
对这颗奇特行星的探索，得出了比研究人员最初预期更为引人入胜的结果。格林斯彭在接受《连线》杂志采访时表示：“最近，我们向那里发射了一艘航天器，并发现了一些令人惊讶的事物。”
A bright flash of white on the planet, indicating a salt deposit, suggests that water once existed there – possibly with a salty composition similar to our own oceans here on Earth.
该行星上出现的一道明亮的白色闪光，表明存在盐沉积物，这暗示那里曾经存在过水——其成分可能与地球上的海洋一样，含有盐分。
Grinspoon explained: “The most interesting thing was a crater and what we found is that it is a salt deposit and that salt deposit indicates that there was water on the planet. This suggests that this was a water world at one point and may still even have liquid water on the inside.”
格林斯彭解释道：“最有趣的是一个陨石坑，我们发现它是一个盐沉积物，而这个盐沉积物表明该行星上曾存在过水。这表明，该行星曾是一个水世界，甚至现在其内部可能仍存在液态水。”
He added: “This is very exciting to astrobiologists because it means that dwarf planets like Ceres are places where you could have in the past had habitable conditions on the inside.”
他补充道：“这对天体生物学家来说非常令人兴奋，因为这意味着像谷神星这样的矮行星，其内部过去可能存在过适宜生命居住的条件。”
However, the thrilling news doesn’t stop there. Grinspoon suggested that it’s not impossible for life-sustaining conditions observed on the planet to still exist. He stated: “Who knows maybe at present some of these planets still have habitable oceans.”
然而，令人兴奋的消息还不止于此。格林斯彭表示，不能排除该行星上观测到的适宜生命存在的条件仍然存在的可能性。他说道：“谁知道呢，也许现在这些行星中仍有一些拥有适宜生命居住的海洋。”
He further expressed that scientists are constantly astounded by their space exploration findings, saying, “the more we explore the solar system the more we’re surprised by the level of activity on some of these worlds that we thought were dead.”
他进一步表示，科学家们不断被他们的太空探索发现所震惊，他说：“我们对太阳系的探索越多，就越对这些我们原本认为已经死亡的世界上的活动程度感到惊讶。”
Grinspoon mentioned scientists have determined water is a prerequisite for life and added “we have experiments that show that the building blocks of life are very easy to create.”
格林斯彭提到，科学家们已经确定水是生命存在的先决条件，并补充说：“我们的实验表明，生命的构成要素很容易创造出来。”
Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, is nestled between Mars and Jupiter. This small planetoid is known for its “alien mystery lights” – a term coined for the strange illuminations emanating from its surface – which have now been identified as salt deposits.
谷神星是小行星带中最大的天体，位于火星和木星之间。这颗小行星以“神秘外星光”而闻名——这一术语是用来形容从其表面发出的奇怪光芒——现在这些光芒已被确定为盐沉积物。
