There are disputes about whether these are the first exoplanet photos.

还存在有关这些照片是否为首次系外行星照片的争论。

Using the Moon to view Earth recreates the basic geometry of exoplanet searches, as well as averaging the effect across the entire atmosphere.

用月亮来观察地球重新建立了外星行星凌日的基本几何学原理，同时平衡了穿过整个大气层的影响。

If these rays from the dying star were to wash over a once-frozen moon or exoplanet, the planetary body's icy layer would melt into liquid: setting the stage for life to form in a flowing ocean.

如果这些发自即将衰亡的恒星的射线能够辐射至那些一度冰冻的卫星和系外行星，那些星体上的冰层将会融化成液态：这将为生命的形成提供流动的海洋。

On the other hand, "we can't prove there is no fifth planet." No one yet has the required precision in their observations to prove the absence of such a small exoplanet, he notes.

另外一方面，他写到“我们不能证明没有第五颗行星”，还没有人要求他们观测的精确性，以证明这个小型外系行星的缺乏。

“It’s hard to choose between these two very exciting results, ” said exoplanet expert Josh Winn of MIT, who is attending the conference in France but was not involved in either new work.

外星星系专家，麻省理工的约翰·温说，“这两个发现让人兴奋，不分仲伯”。 他也参加了法国的会议，但并没有对此进行讨论。

Because astronomers have found the first carbon-rich exoplanet, with more carbon than oxygen in its atmosphere—instead of the 1 to 2 carbon to oxygen ratio found in our solar system.

因为天文学家发现了第一个富含碳的系外行星，其大气中碳含量远超过氧含量，而非太阳系的1:2碳氧比。

Before 1991, scientists hadn't discovered a single exoplanet.

1991年以前，科学家一个系外行星都还没发现。

But it would take a telescope with the effective diameter of the sun to actually take photographs of something the size of an elephant strolling on an exoplanet only 4.3 light-years away.

但是，假设距离我们仅有4.3光年远的一颗系外行星上，有一头徜徉漫步的大象，我们如果要拍到它，也得使用一个直径有太阳那么大的望远镜。

The light reflected by the newfound extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, changed by only about 6.5 parts per million, relative to the brightness of the host star.

这颗新发现的太阳系外行星——或者称为外行星——所反射的光线变化相对于其恒星的亮度只有百万分之6.5。

The largest exoplanet ever discovered is also one of the strangest and theoretically should not even exist, scientists say.

科学家们说，迄今为止发现的最大外行星是一颗奇特至极、在理论上不应该存在的行星。

It is the only known "Super-Earth" exoplanet-worlds that have masses between Earth and Neptune-with a confirmed atmosphere.

它是唯一的一颗已知的“超级地球”外行星-质量在地球与海王星之间-被证实了有大气。

“I’m not going to admit that it’s a dead planet yet,” said exoplanet expert Sara Seager of MIT.

“我还不准备断定他是一颗死星，”麻省理工学院的太阳系外行星专家塞拉.赛格说到。

After millenniums of musings and a century of failed attempts, astronomers first detected an exoplanet, a planet orbiting a normal star other than the Sun, in 1995.

经过几千年的沉思冥想和百年来的失败尝试，天文学家于1995年初次探测到了一外部行星，此行星绕着非太阳的一正常恒星的轨道运行。

The science of exoplanet atmospheres is in its infancy.

外星大气科学的研究还处于婴儿期。

From synthetic life and three-parent embryos to the possibility of a new human ancestor and a habitable exoplanet, here are the breakthroughs that made us shout "Science!" the loudest this year.

从合成生命和三亲胚胎到新人类祖先的线索和可居住的太阳系外行星，以下这些就是我们认为今年取得最大突破的“科学！” 项目。

It orbits a red dwarf star about 28, 000 light-years away, making it the most distant exoplanet currently known.

它围绕着一颗距地球28，000光年远的红矮星运行，这使它成为目前已知的最远的外行星。

Most of the exoplanet candidates reported by Kepler so far are Neptune-sized or larger.

到目前为止，它探测的多数外部行星和海王星一般大，或者更大。

Once astronomers know an exoplanet's size and location with reasonable accuracy, they can turn it over to climate modelers who can create a virtual atmosphere and see how it might behave.

一旦天文学家知道一个太阳系外行星的大小，并对它的位置了解的足够精确的话，他们就可以求助于气候模型师，他们可以创造虚拟的大气，并且观察它是如何运转的。

This 2004 photograph made by the European Southern Observatory shows the first known photo of an exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system.

2004年欧洲组织驻南半球天文研究所拍摄的这张照片，是目前已知最早的一张外部行星图。 所谓外部行星，意即太阳系外的行星。

The direct imaging of the light from an exoplanet, so far accomplished by the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.

来自太阳系外行星的直接光学图像，目前有哈勃太空望远镜和欧洲南方天文台的超大型望远镜能够做到。