澳大利亞科學家發現超級地球 距地球僅14光年

Australian astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system so far — a super-Earth located just 14 light years away.

澳大利亞的天文學家發現了太陽系外的一個潛在的宜居星球。這顆超級地球是迄今爲止離我們最近的一顆，距地球僅僅14光年。

The planet, reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is one of three detected orbiting a small red dwarf star called Wolf 1061 in the constellation Ophiuchus.

據《天體物理學》雜誌報道，這顆行星系圍繞紅矮星沃爾夫1061旋轉的三顆行星之一，這三顆行星都處於蛇夫座當中。

"The middle planet Wolf 1061c, is orbiting within the so-called 'Goldilocks zone' — the habitable zone where it might be possible for liquid water and maybe even life to exist," said the study's lead author Dr Duncan Wright of the University of New South Wales.

該研究主要作者鄧肯·賴特博士就職於澳大利亞新南威爾士大學。他介紹說：“沃爾夫1061c在3顆行星中位置居中，位於'宜居帶'，那裏可能會有液態水甚至是生命存在。”

"This discovery is especially exciting because the star is extremely calm. Most red dwarfs are very active, giving out X-ray bursts and super flares which spells doom for any life"

“這個發現尤其讓人興奮，因爲這顆恆星表面極度風平浪靜。大多數紅矮星非常活躍，會釋出X射線，還有吞噬一切生命的超級耀斑。”

Wolf 1061 is about a quarter the mass of the Sun with a surface temperature of about 3,100 degrees Celsius — just over half that of the Sun.

沃爾夫1061的質量大約是太陽的四分之一；表面溫度大概是太陽的一半，大約在3100攝氏度左右。

The three newly detected planets are all thought to be rocky terrestrial worlds. The nearest planet orbits the star every five days and is about 1.4 times the mass of the Earth.

這三個新探測到的星球都被認爲是石質的類地行星。最近的行星每五天繞紅矮星旋轉一週，質量是地球的1.4倍左右。

"It is fascinating to look out at the vastness of space and think a star so very close to us — a near neighbour — could host a habitable planet," said Dr Wright.

賴特博士說：“仰望漫無邊際的宇宙，意識到在離我們如此之近的地方可能存在一顆宜居行星，這種感覺相當奇妙。”