双语｜地球的大表哥终于“找到了”！
NASA scientists have discovered anEarth-like planet some 1,400 light-years away orbiting a star similar to thesun, they revealed during a press conference Thursday morning.
美国航空航天局（NASA）在美国当地时间7月23日上午宣布，在1400光年外的太空发现一颗类似地球的行星正在围绕一颗类似太阳的恒星转。
The newfound planet, named Kepler-452b, isthe smallest planet yet discovered orbiting the habitable zone of a G2-typestar, like our sun. The discovery of Kepler-452b brings the total number ofplanets confirmed by NASA's Kepler mission to 1,030. It is the most similar toEarth of all of them.
这颗新发现的行星被命名为“开普勒-452b”（Kepler-452b），是在G2型恒星——如太阳系的太阳——宜居带中飞行的行星中体积最小的一颗。开普勒-452b行星的发现让NASA的开普勒探索计划确认的总行星数达到了1030个。这颗行星是所有这些行星中与地球最接近的一颗。
"This exciting result brings us onestep closer to finding an Earth 2.0," Dr. John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency'sheadquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
“这是一个令人激动的发现，让我们对发现Earth 2.0更进一步。”位于NASA华盛顿总部的NASA科技探索委员会副主任约翰·格兰斯费尔德（John Grunsfeld）博士在一份声明中说道。
Kepler-452b is about 60 percent larger indiameter than Earth. Scientists haven't yet determined its mass andcomposition, but it is likely a rocky world. The planet is about 5 percentfarther from its parent star than Earth is from the sun -- but the alien worldstill orbits within its star's habitable zone.
开普勒-452b的直径是地球的1.6倍。科学家们还没有确定其体积和成分，不过，这颗行星有可能是一颗岩石星球。它与母星的距离较地球与太阳之间的距离长5%——不过，这颗太阳系以外的星球的运行轨迹仍处于其恒星且宜居带内。
"This is the closest thing that wehave to another planet like the Earth," Dr. Jon Jenkins, Kepler dataanalysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, saidin a teleconference. "It would feel a lot like home based on thesunshine."
“这是我们发现一颗最类似地球的行星。”位于美国加州Moffett Field 的NASA Ames 研究中心的开普勒数据分析负责人琼·詹宁斯（Jon Kenkins）在电视会议上说道。“这让人感觉象是沐浴在阳光中的家一般。”
The planet's host star, named Kepler-452,appears to be 1.5 billion years older than our sun, at 6 billion years old. Ithas the same temperature as our sun and is about 20 percent brighter and 10percent larger in diameter.
这颗行星的母星被命名为“开普勒-452”(Kepler-452)，比太阳的年龄大15亿年，达到60亿年。这颗恒星的温度与太阳一样，但亮度和直径分别比太阳高20%和长10%。
"It’s awe-inspiring to consider thatthis planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longerthan Earth," Jenkins said in the written statement. "That’ssubstantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredientsand conditions for life exist on this planet."
“这颗行星在恒星的宜居带中存在的时间长达60亿年，实在是让人惊叹。”詹宁斯在一份手写的声明中说道。“如果这个行星上拥有生命存在的所有必要成分和条件，那么生命起源的机会是巨大的。”
To confirm the discovery of the Kepler-452star system, researchers conducted ground-based observations of the distantstar and planet at three sites: the University of Texas at Austin's McDonaldObservatory in West Texas, the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona andthe W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
为了确定发现了开普勒-452恒星系，研究人员在三个天文台——德州大学奥斯汀分校在西德克萨斯的麦克当纳德天文站（McDonald Observatory ）, 亚利桑那州的弗莱德·劳伦斯·惠普尔天文台（Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory）和夏威夷的W.M.Keck天文台——对遥远的恒星和行星展开了实地的的观察。
The researchers' observations and analyseshelped to determine Kepler-452b's size and orbit and the brightness of theKepler-452 star.
研究人员的观测和分析协助确定了开普勒-452b的大小和运行轨迹以及开普勒-452星的亮度。
"The detection of this planetdemonstrates Kepler's ability to fulfill its original mission goal: to detectEarth-like planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars, and to measuretheir frequency," Dr. Heather Knutson, assistant professor of planetaryscience at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told TheHuffington Post in an email. "This is a question of fundamental interestto exoplanetary scientists, and is closely related to the search for lifebeyond our own solar system."
“这颗行星的发现证明了开普勒有能力完成其最初设定的太空探索目标：在类似太阳系的恒星宜居带中发现类似地球的行星。”加州理工大学的行星科学副教授希斯·纳森（Heather Nutson）在一封给《赫芬顿邮报》的邮件中说道。“这是外空科学的根本问题所在，也是与太阳系以外生命研究密切相关。”
Before the discovery of Kepler-452b, alienplanet Kepler-186F held the record for being the most like Earth, Jenkins saidin the teleconference.
詹宁斯在电话会议上称，在发现开普勒-452b之前，外太空行星开普勒-186F行星是最象地球的行星。
In addition to discovering Kepler-452b, theKepler team also has identified 521 celestial objects that could potentially beplanets, raising the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler missionto 4,696.
除了开普勒-452b行星外，开普勒团队发现了521颗有可能是行星的太空目标。这让开普勒太空探索计划发现的可能行星数量增加至4696个。
The team identified more candidates afteranalyzing observational data collected from May 2009 to May 2013. Beforecandidates are confirmed as planets, follow-up observations and analyses arerequired.
在分析2009年五月至2013年五月的天文数据后，开普勒研究小组确认了更多的行星。不过，在确认是行星之前，这些外太空目标需要更多的天主观测和数据分析。
The Kepler spacecraft launched in 2009 andhas been seeking out exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy ever since.
开普勒太空望远镜于2009年发射升空，由此开始探寻银河系里的行星。
英文来源：赫芬顿邮报
最后，用209秒的时间来领略一下宇宙之浩瀚吧！建议在wifi下观看。
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