Snežak na koncu Osončja
Snowman at the end of the Solar System
Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner
Kaj imajo skupnega rdečkasti snežak na koncu Osončja in nova spoznanja o rojstvu planetov?
What does a reddish snowman at the end of the Solar System have to do with new insights on the birth of planets?
Na novega leta dan je vesoljsko plovilo Nova obzorja oziroma New Horizons na Zemljo poslalo prve posnetke najbolj oddaljenega nebesnega telesa v zgodovini raziskovanja vesolja. Poimenovali so ga Ultima Thule.
On New Year's Eve, the New Horizons spacecraft sent back to Earth the first images of the farthest celestial body yet encountered in the history of space exploration. It is called Ultima Thule.
Njegova oblika je posebna in nenavadna. Spominja namreč na rdečega snežaka.
Its shape is special and unusual. It resembles a red snowman.
Ultima Thule. Vir: NasaUltima Thule. Vir: Nasa
Znanstveniki v ameriški vesoljski agenciji Nasa pravijo, da česa takega še niso videli.
Scientists at the US Space Agency NASA say that they have not seen anything like this.
»Plovilo Nova obzorja je kot časovni stroj. Popeljalo nas je v čas, ko je nastalo Osončje. Opazujemo lahko rojstvo planetov, zamrznjeno v času,« je dejal znanstvenik Jeff Moore.
“The New Horizon spacecraft is like a time machine. It took us to the time when the Solar System was being formed. We can observe the birth of planets, frozen in time," said scientist Jeff Moore.
Oblika nebesnega telesa ni zanimiva le zaradi tega, ker je nenavadna, ampak tudi zato, ker bo znanstvenikom razkrila, kako so pred štirimi milijardami let in pol nastali planeti.
The shape of the celestial body is not only interesting because it is unusual, but also because it will reveal to scientists how the planets were created four and a half billion years ago.
»In to ne le tisti v našem Osončju, ampak tudi tisti, ki krožijo okoli drugih zvezd v galaksiji,« je dodal Nasin znanstvenik.
"And it's not just those in our Solar System, but also those that circulate around other stars in the galaxy," added the NASA scientist.
Ultima Thule je od Zemlje oddaljen več kot šest milijard kilometrov. Nahaja se v Kuiperjevem pasu, ki se razteza daleč za orbito Neptuna, najbolj oddaljenega planeta našega Osončja.
Ultima Thule is more than six billion kilometres from Earth. It is located in the Kuiper belt, which extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune, the farthest planet of our Solar System.
Astrofizik dr. Brian May, znan tudi kot član skupine Queen, je dvanajstletnemu potovanju plovila Nova obzorja posvetil tudi posebno skladbo.
The Astrophysicist Dr. Brian May, also known as a member of the group Queen group, wrote a special song to mark the twelve-year journey of New Horizon.
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