南非利用超级望远镜探索星空

Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 2037 GMT (0437 HKT)

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Perched on a wind-swept hilltop, they house telescopes of different shapes and sizes that search the star-filled skies in this remote corner of the Earth for the secrets of the universe.
在一个多风的小山顶，他们通过安置多个不同形状和尺寸的望远镜，从这个地球的遥远的角落来搜索

繁复的星空，探求宇宙的奥秘。
☆ perch 就位, 位于
    hilltop 小山顶

Those skies will soon be scanned by a super scope that will probe far deeper into space than any of its neighbors -- the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), which will be 12 yards in diameter.
南非超级望远镜(SALT)，直径将达12码，将会对那些星空进行比其他望远镜更深更远的观察 。

☆ probe 探查, 查明
    diameter 直径
    半径 radius，semidiameter

"This is for deep space observation," said Hitesh Gajjar, an electrical engineer involved in the project, as he pointed with pride at SALT -- a massive hexagon filled with 91 smaller mirrored hexagons, of which 18 are in place.
SALT由18个以91个小六角形镜组成的大型六角镜所构成，Hitesh Gajjar，作为工程的电子工程师，在提

到SALT的时候充满自豪地说：“它将被用于外层空间的观察。”
  
☆ hexagon 六角形, 六边形
    deep space， outer space 外层空间

SALT will enable scientists to view stars and galaxies a billion times too faint to be visible to the naked eye. The official Web site says that is as about as faint as a candle's flame on the moon.
SALT使科学家能够对仅有肉眼所能看到的亮度10亿分之一的星星及星系进行观察。在SALR官方网站

上称其亮度相当于一根在月亮上燃烧的蜡烛所发出的光。

☆ galaxy 星系
   naked eye 肉眼
   

SALT will also probe quasars, which resemble bright stars but are in fact black holes at the center of galaxies and which are some of the most distant objects in the universe.
SALT还将被用来观察类星体，它们可以象星星一样发光，实际上在星系中央是黑洞。它们是宇宙中遥

远的物体。

☆ quasar  类星体
    black hole 黑洞

The light reaching us now left them a long time ago and as a consequence we see them as they were billions of years ago when they were young.
在现在我们所见到的光是在很久以前所发出，因此我们所见到的是它们在数十亿年前依然年青时的样

子。

☆ consequence  结果，推论

"Very distant quasars give us information about earlier times in the history of the universe. One benefit is that this enables us to study the time evolution of the universe," said South African astronomer Chris Koen.

☆ evolution 演变，进化

"We can also try to determine whether the same physical laws applied in the distant past because we see quasars as they were long ago," he said.

SALT will be the biggest telescope in the southern hemisphere -- from where galaxies can be viewed which cannot be seen up north.

☆ southern hemisphere 南半球

"You can see the Magellanic clouds from the southern hemisphere but not in the north," said Koen.

Magellanic  麦哲伦海峡的

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds orbit our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and are sufficiently close for detailed study. Some scientists believe they will eventually collide with the Milky Way and become part of our

own galaxy.

☆ orbit 绕...轨道而行
     Milky Way 银河
    

"For extragalactic astronomy, the southern hemisphere is the place to be," said Koen.

☆ extragalactic 银河系外的