Does water exist on the moon? In 2018, scientists confirmed the presence of water in the form of ice in the moon’s polar regions. Now, NASA scientists have detected water in more places than expected.
月球上有水存在嗎？2018年，科學(xué)家們證實(shí)，在月球的極地水以冰的形式存在。如今，美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局的科學(xué)家們?cè)诒阮A(yù)期更多的地方發(fā)現(xiàn)了水。

For the first time, scientists have identified water on the moon’s sunlit surface. The water was found in and around the southern hemisphere’s sunlit Clavius crater, one of the largest craters on the moon.
科學(xué)家們首次在月球的太陽(yáng)照射面發(fā)現(xiàn)水。這些水在月球南半球的克拉維斯環(huán)形山 —— 也是月球最大的環(huán)形山一帶被發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Scientists made this discovery using data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope. It is a 2.5-meter telescope that rides aboard a jumbo jet to get clear views of the sky. In August 2018, SOFIA detected 6-micrometer infrared light coming from a region near the Clavius crater. After analysis, scientists confirmed that this wavelength of light is generated by the vibrations (振動(dòng)) of sunlight-heated water molecules.
科學(xué)家們通過使用美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局的平流層紅外探測(cè)天文臺(tái)“索菲亞”空運(yùn)望遠(yuǎn)鏡的數(shù)據(jù)，得出了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。這架口徑2.5米的望遠(yuǎn)鏡被架設(shè)在了一家巨型噴氣式飛機(jī)上，從而能夠獲得天空的清晰視角。2018年8月，“索菲亞”在克拉維斯環(huán)形山一帶發(fā)現(xiàn)了6微米的紅外波段。經(jīng)過分析，科學(xué)家們證實(shí)這段光波長(zhǎng)源于受陽(yáng)光加熱后的水分子振動(dòng)。

“This is the first unambiguous detection of molecular water on the sunlit moon,” said study co-author Casey Honniball, a lunar scientist at NASA. “This shows that water is not just in the permanently shadowed regions – that there are other places on the moon [where] we could potentially find it.”
“這是月球光照區(qū)存在水分子的首個(gè)明確發(fā)現(xiàn)，”該研究的聯(lián)合作者、美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局的月球科學(xué)家凱西·霍尼鮑爾表示?！斑@表明，水不僅存在于常年陰暗的月背 —— 月球上的其他地方也可能發(fā)現(xiàn)水。”

Based on the brightness of the observed infrared light, Honniball’s team figured out the water exists at around 100 to 400 parts per million around the Clavius crater. That’s less than half a liter (升) of water per ton of lunar soil. As a comparison, the Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water than that. This is basically what the researchers expected, based on past spacecraft observations.
根據(jù)觀測(cè)到的紅外波段亮度，霍尼鮑爾的團(tuán)隊(duì)認(rèn)為克拉維斯環(huán)形山附近水的濃度大約為百萬(wàn)分之100至400。這也就是每噸月球土壤中的含水量少于半升。作為對(duì)照，撒哈拉沙漠的含水量是月球的100倍。從以往的航天觀測(cè)來(lái)看，這一結(jié)果與研究人員的預(yù)期基本相符。

Interestingly, these water molecules are so far apart that they are in neither liquid nor in frozen ice.
有趣的是，這些水分子之間的間隔太大，因此并不是以液體或者固態(tài)冰的形式存在。

“To be clear, this is not puddles of water,” Honniball said. Instead, scientists think the water molecules are bound inside some other material on the lunar surface. They could be covered in glass created by the crash of micrometeorites, or “sandwiched” between soil grains that protect the water from solar radiation.
“要明確的是，這并不是水坑，”霍尼鮑爾表示?？茖W(xué)家們認(rèn)為這些水分子被儲(chǔ)存在了月球表面的一些其他物質(zhì)中。它們或許被包裹在微小隕石撞擊所形成的玻璃中，或者被夾在了土壤顆粒之間，從而避免被太陽(yáng)輻射帶走。

Scientists believe the water came from comets, asteroids, interplanetary dust, the solar wind or even lunar volcanic eruptions. It is too soon to know if the water would be accessible. Without knowing how hard the surface is, there is a risk of damaging equipment. But the finding expands the possible landing spots for robots and astronauts alike. It is “opening up real estate previously considered ‘off limits’ for being bone dry”, according to assistant professor Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado, US.
科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為這些水來(lái)自彗星、小行星、星際塵埃、太陽(yáng)風(fēng)甚至是月球上的火山噴發(fā)。目前能否采集這些水還是個(gè)未知數(shù)。在并不了解月球表面硬度的情況下，存在著損壞設(shè)備的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。但這一發(fā)現(xiàn)擴(kuò)大了機(jī)器人及宇航員可能的著陸范圍。美國(guó)科羅拉多大學(xué)的助理教授保羅·海尼認(rèn)為，這“打開了以往因干燥而被‘禁入’的區(qū)域”。

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請(qǐng)見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高三729期