Astronomers Find Planet with Two Suns|星际大战发源地？

In the movie Star Wars, hero Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine orbits two suns. Now, US astronomers have discovered the first planet to do this in reality. Named Kepler-16b, the planet was spotted with NASA's giant Kepler space telescope.

While Skywalker's Tatooine featured a barren, scorched landscape, Kepler-16b is a bitterly cold, frozen world. In fact, surface temperatures on the sphere, which is about the size of Saturn, reach 70 to 100 degrees Celsius below zero. The planet's extremely cold temperatures make it highly unlikely for any life to exist there. Why would a planet with two suns be so frigid? The reason is that Kepler-16b's suns are both much smaller than the Earth's. One of its suns is only 20 percent the size of ours, while the other is 69 percent. The sighting of the new planet was recorded by a study in the journal, Science. The study said Kepler-16b orbits its two suns in a near-perfect circle roughly 200 light years from Earth. Meanwhile, the suns interact with each other in an eccentric 41-day orbit.

Scientists have previously speculated about seeing planets that revolved around two suns, but this discovery marks the first time astronomers could clearly confirm the phenomenon. The finding was made when astronomers glimpsed the planet passing in front of its two suns. "This discovery is stunning. Once again, what used to be science fiction has turned into reality," said Alan Boss, a co-author of the study.

1.  Which of the following statements is true?

(A) Scientists never believed a planet could orbit two suns.

(B) Kepler-16b's suns interact with each other in a strange way.

(C) Luke Skywalker's home planet is based on Kepler-16b.

(D) There are no similarities between Kepler-16b and Tatooine.

2.  Why are the temperatures on Kepler-16b so low?

(A) It is 200 light years away from Earth.

(B) It takes the planet 41 days to orbit its suns.

(C) Kepler-16b is about the same size as Saturn.

(D) Its suns are relatively small.

3.  What does Alan Boss mean when he says the discovery is "stunning"?

(A) It was difficult to make.

(B) It is frightening.

(C) It is amazing.

(D) It is scientific.

星际大战发源地？行星一天双日出

　　在电影《星际大战》中，天行者路克的故乡是环绕着 2 颗太阳运转的塔图因星球。现在，美国天文学家在真实世界中发现第 1 颗环绕 2 颗太阳运行的行星。这颗被命名为 Kepler-16b的行星是美国航天总署的克卜勒太空望远镜所侦测到的。

　　荒凉且炙热是天行者故乡塔图因星球的特色，而 Kepler-16b 则是一个极寒冷的冰冻世界。事实上，体积与木星相去不远的 Kepler-16b，其表面温度低至摄氏零下 70至 100 度。该行星因极度寒冷，所以不太可能有生物生存。为何环绕 2颗太阳运转的行星会如此寒冷呢？原因在于该行星所环绕的 2 颗太阳都比地球的太阳来得小。Kepler-16b其中一颗太阳的体积只有我们太阳的百分之二十，另一颗则只有百分之六十九。这颗新行星的发现刊登在《科学》期刊的一项研究中。该研究指出，Kepler-16b距离地球约 200 光年远，以近乎完美的圆形轨道环绕 2 颗太阳运转。同时，这 2 颗太阳互动的方式相当怪异，彼此绕行一周需 41 天。

　　科学家先前曾推测他们侦测到有行星环绕着 2 颗太阳运转，不过这项发现得以让科学家首次证实此现象的存在。这项发现是由于当时天文学家瞥见这颗行星从 2 颗太阳前面经过。这份研究报告的合著者亚伦‧博斯说：『这是惊人的天文发现。科幻小说的情节再度变成事实。』