美国航天局科学家称其已经在矮行星冥王星上发现了大型冰火山的证据。
The finding is based on images and data collected by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. Researchers report in a new study that they identified numerous round-shaped formations on Pluto's surface.
该发现是基于美国宇航局新视野号宇宙飞船收集到的图像和数据。研究人员在一项新的研究报告中说，他们在冥王星表面发现了许多圆形结构。
The formations suggest the presence of geological activity linked to ice volcanoes, also called cryovolcanoes. The scientists said it is the first time these kinds of structures have been observed in our solar system. Some measured at least seven kilometers tall and 100 kilometers wide.
这些结构表明存在与冰火山有关的地质活动。科学家表示，这是我们首次在太阳系观察到这种结构。有些测量下来至少有7公里高和100公里宽。
"The particular structures we studied are unique to Pluto, at least so far," planetary scientist Kelsi Singer said in a statement. She is a member of the New Horizons team, based at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. She was the lead writer of the study, which recently appeared in Nature Communications.
行星科学家凯尔西·辛格在一份声明中表示：“至少到目前为止，我们研究的这些特定结构是冥王星独有的。”她是科罗拉多州博尔德市西南研究所的新视野号团队的一员。辛格是这项研究的主要作者，该研究最近发表在《自然通讯》上。
Singer said it is difficult to know exactly when the ice volcanoes formed. But the team believes the volcanoes could be as young as a few hundred million years, or even younger. "It is possible that these processes are going on even in the present day," Singer added.
辛格表示，很难确切知道这些冰火山是什么时候形成的。但是该团队认为，这些火山的年龄可能只有几亿年，甚至更年轻。辛格还表示：“这些过程也有可能即使在今天仍在进行当中。”
Like Earth and our solar system's other planets, Pluto formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It is smaller than Earth's moon and orbits about 5.8 billion kilometers from the sun. That distance is about 40 times farther than Earth's orbit. Pluto's surface includes flat land, mountains, craters and valleys.
与地球以及太阳系的其它行星一样，冥王星大约形成于45亿年前。它比月球小，距离太阳约58亿公里。这个距离大约是地球轨道的40倍。冥王星表面包含平坦的土地、山脉、陨石坑以及山谷。
The researchers studied an area southwest of Sputnik Planitia, a large, heart-shaped area filled with nitrogen ice.
研究人员研究了斯普特尼克平原西南的一个区域，这是一片充满氮冰的心形的庞大区域。
One of the tallest structures, called Wright Mons, may have formed when several volcanic formations came together, the team said. Wright Mons is similar in size to Hawaii's large Mauna Loa volcano, although it is shaped differently.
该研究小组表示，其中最高的赖特蒙斯山可能是几大火山结构聚集在一起形成的。赖特蒙斯山的大小跟夏威夷的大莫纳罗亚火山相似，但是形状有所不同。
The researchers said Pluto is geologically active. There is evidence of flowing nitrogen ice glaciers. In addition, the dwarf planet has areas where nitrogen ice vaporizes during the day and turns back into ice at night.
研究人员表示，冥王星在地质上很活跃。这里有氮冰冰川流动的证据。此外，这颗矮行星上有些区域，氮冰会在白天蒸发，到晚上又变成冰。
Lynnae Quick is a planetary scientist who specializes in ice volcanoes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She said the findings were "extremely significant."
莱纳·奎克是一位行星科学家，她在马里兰州的美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心专门研究冰火山。她说这些发现非常重要。
Quick told the French Press Agency, AFP, that scientists believed Pluto should have lost much of its inside heat a long time ago. The new research, however, suggests it "was able to hold onto enough energy to facilitate widespread geological activity rather late in its history," she said.
奎克对法新社表示，科学家认为冥王星在很久以前就失去了大部分内部热量。然而这项新研究表明，它能够保持足够能量来促进其历史上相当晚期的广泛地质活动。
Quick added that the findings may help scientists re-examine the possibility that similar volcanic activity might have happened on other small, icy worlds far away from the sun.
奎克还说，这些发现可能有助于科学家重新审视类似火山活动可能发生在远离太阳的其它小型冰冻世界的可能性。
Singer described Pluto as a "geological wonderland," with many areas completely different from each other. "If you just had a few pieces of a puzzle of Pluto, you would have no idea what the other areas looked like," she added.
辛格将冥王星描述为地质仙境，这里的许多区域彼此完全不同。她补充道：“如果你只熟悉冥王星部分区域，你就不会知道其它区域是什么样子。”
I'm Bryan Lynn.
我是布莱恩·林恩。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)