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原文:
What created this large mountain on asteroid Ceres? No one is yet sure. As if in anticipation of today being Asteroid Day on Earth, the robotic spacecraft Dawn in orbit around Ceres took the best yet image of an unusually tall mountain on the Asteroid Belt’s largest asteroid. Visible at the top of the featured image, the exceptional mountain rises about five kilometers up from an area that otherwise appears pretty level. The image was taken about two weeks ago from about 4,400 kilometers away. Although origin hypotheses for the mountain include volcanism, impacts, and plate tectonics, clear evidence backing any of these is currently lacking. Also visible across Ceres’ surface are some enigmatic light areas: bright spots whose origin and composition that also remain an active topic of investigation. Even though Dawn is expected to continue to orbit Ceres, officially dubbed a dwarf planet, for millions of years, the hydrazine fuel used to point Dawn’s communications antenna toward Earth is expected to run out sometime next year. Tonight & tomorrow: See Venus & Jupiter together after sunset
中文翻譯:
今天是小行星日，來自航行於小行星帶中最大的矮行星——矮行星Ceres的機器人太空船Dawn，拍攝了迄今為止最清晰的圖像，顯示出一座異常高的山脈。這座令人矚目的山脈從大致平坦的地區高出約五公里。這張圖片是在大約兩周前從約4,400公里的距離拍攝的。
儘管對於這座山脈的起源有多種假說，包括火山活動、撞擊和板塊構造，但目前並沒有明確的證據支持其中任何一個理論。Ceres表面上還可見一些神秘的亮區：這些亮斑的起源和成分至今尚無定論，仍然是一個活躍的研究話題。雖然Dawn預計將繼續在Ceres周圍軌道運行數百萬年，但其用於定向通訊天線的氫塩燃料預期將於明年耗盡。
今晚和明天：夕陽下可以一起觀賞金星和木星！
#小行星日 #Ceres #Dawn #宇宙探索 #天文學 #神秘山脈 #矮行星 #探索未來 #金星 #木星 #星空觀賞
來源:NASA每日圖片
