外星球的怪異極端天氣The Strange and Extreme Weather on Other Planets

We often complain about the weather， particularly as more extreme weather events become more commonplace here on Earth， but what if we spent our holiday weekends battling 5，400-mile-an-hour winds or temperatures hot enough to melt lead？

我們經常抱怨天氣不好，尤其是現在地球上的極端的天氣事件變得越來越普遍的情況下。但是如果有一天，我們周末出游時遇到時速5400英里（約合8690公里）的大風，或者氣溫升高到能把金屬都融化的程度，那又會怎么樣呢？

Weather， good or bad， is not only a permanent fixture on our planet—its prevalent， and even more extreme， out there in the depths of space.

天氣，不管是好是壞，不僅僅是我們居住的星球上才有的自然生態，在宇宙中也是普遍存在的，而且宇宙中的天氣只會更加極端。

Lets start close to home， with our neighbor Venus， the most inhospitable place in the solar system. Basically， Venus is a biblical hellhole. Home to a thick atmosphere mostly consisting of carbon dioxide， the atmospheric pressure on Venus is 90 times that found on Earth. This atmosphere traps much of the Suns radiation which means temperatures on Venus can reach up to 460℃—so youd be crushed and boiling within seconds if you were to set foot here. But if that doesnt sound painful enough， rain on Venus is made up of extremely corrosive sulphuric acid， which would severely burn any interstellar travelers skin.

讓我們從家附近、地球的鄰居——金星開始說起。金星是太陽系中最不適宜居住的星球。可以說，金星就是《圣經》里的地獄。金星的大氣層很厚，主要由二氧化碳組成，其大氣壓力是地球的90倍。這種大氣層捕獲了大部分的太陽熱輻射，意味著金星的溫度可以高達460攝氏度，所以如果你踏上金星，幾秒鐘的工夫身體就會起皺變形和沸騰。但如果這聽起來還不夠痛苦，再想想金星上的雨是由極具腐蝕性的硫酸組成，這將嚴重灼傷星際旅行者的皮膚。

Due to the planets extreme surface temperatures， this rain would evaporate before landing. Yet even more bizarrely， there is “snow” on Venus. Not the type that you could have snowball fight with： this stuff is made up of the basalt frost remnants of metals vaporised by its atmosphere.

由于金星表面溫度極高，這些雨水在落到金星地表前就會被蒸發。然而更怪異的是，金星上竟然有“雪”。但不是那種你可以用來打雪仗的雪，金星上的“雪”是由玄武巖的霜凍殘余金屬在大氣中蒸發而成的。

At the other end of our solar system you have gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune. The latter， our most distant planet， is home to frozen methane clouds and the most violent winds in the solar system. Because of the planets topography， which is fairly flat， theres nothing to slow down these supersonic methane winds which can reach speeds of up to 1，500 mph.

在太陽系的另一端，有天王星和海王星這些巨大的氣態行星。海王星是距離我們最遙遠的行星，這個星球上有冰凍的甲烷云和太陽系最猛烈的風。海王星的超音速甲烷風風速每小時可達1500 英里 （約合2400公里），由于地形相當平坦，沒有任何障礙可以減緩其風速。

As well as being able to hear the sound barrier breaking， a visit here would also include diamond rain， thanks to the carbon in the atmosphere being compressed. But you wouldnt have to worry about being whacked by a falling stone， as youd already have been frozen instantly.

除了能聽到音障被突破的巨大爆炸聲，在海王星你還能看到鉆石雨，因為大氣中的碳受到了高壓而形成鉆石。但是你不用擔心會被落下的寶石砸到，因為你在抵達海王星的瞬間即會被凍結。

Tom Louden is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Warwick， and hes a bit like an intergalactic weatherman—its his job to find out what the atmospheric conditions are on other planets.

湯姆·勞登是沃里克大學的博士后研究員，他的工作有點像星際氣象員，就是弄清楚其他行星上的大氣狀況。

“The upper atmosphere of Venus is actually one of the most habitable places in the Solar System， apart from the Earth，” he states. Above its sulphuric acid clouds， theres a point where the pressure is roughly that of our planet.

他說：“除了地球，金星的大氣層上端實際上是太陽系中最適宜人類居住的地方之一。”在金星的硫酸云層之上，其大氣層有一個點的壓力與地球大氣壓力大致相當。

“You wouldnt be able to breathe the atmosphere， but you could imagine being in a big hot-air balloon or something filled with Earth atmosphere. And if you had an oxygen mask you could probably be OK here in a T-shirt and shorts.”

“你無法在這個大氣層呼吸，但你可以想象自己包裹在一個巨大的熱氣球或充滿地球大氣的類似東西中。如果你有一個氧氣面罩，你在這里穿著T恤衫和短褲也沒什么問題。”

Loudens specialty is exoplanets （those outside of our solar system that orbit around a sun）， particularly one named HD 189733b. This deep-blue world some 63 light years away is a good candidate for being host to the most extreme known weather on another planet. It may look beautiful， but its weather conditions are apocalyptically awful. With winds of 5，000 miles per hour （the strongest recorded on Earth are 253 mph）， its also 20 times closer to its sun than we are， with atmospheric temperatures of 1，600 degrees centigrade—the level of molten lava.

勞登的專長是研究系外行星 （太陽系之外圍繞某個恒星運行的行星），尤其是一顆名為HD 189733b的行星。這個深藍色的星球距離地球約63光年，很有可能是已知外星球上的極端天氣之最。它看起來可能很漂亮，但其天氣狀況卻跟世界末日一般。那里的風速為每小時5000英里 （約合8000公里），而地球上有記錄的最強風速為每小時253英里（約合407公里）。這顆行星與它的恒星的距離比地球與太陽的距離近20倍，其大氣溫度為1600攝氏度，相當于熔巖的溫度。

“Rocks on our planet would be vaporised into liquid or gas here，” says Louden. And it also rains sideways molten glass.

勞登說：“我們星球上的巖石在這個行星上會蒸發成液體或氣體。”那里還會下熔化的玻璃雨，是斜著下的雨。

Louden says there are planets similar in size and mass to the Earth orbiting smaller M dwarf， or “red dwarf”， stars. Whether they are habitable is another question. To be warm enough and have liquid water on its surface， a planet must be “tidally locked”—as our Moon is to the Earth. This means youll get one side with permanent daylight and the other， perpetual night.

勞登說，有些行星在大小和質量上與地球相似，它們圍繞著較小的M矮星（或“紅矮星”）運行。這些行星是否適合生命居住還不得而知。為了保持足夠的溫度且表面有液態水存在，這些行星必須距離其恒星不遠，能被“潮汐鎖定”，就像我們的月球對地球一樣。這意味著這顆行星一半永遠是白天，另一半永遠是黑夜。

“When you make computer models you get hurricane-level events moving from the day to the night side. Any liquid water on the day side will evaporate into clouds， which will get blown to the night side， freeze and snow out. Youd have one side thats a desert and one side thats arctic.”

“通過制作計算機模擬模型，你會看到在這個行星上，颶風是從白天一側的半球刮向黑夜一側的半球。在白天一側的半球的液態水會蒸發成云，然后被颶風刮到黑夜一側的半球并冷凍成為落雪。所以這個星球一半是沙漠，另一半是北極。”

There is really no place like home.

看來，宇宙中再沒有什么地方比得上我們的地球家園了。

Word Study

extreme /?k'stri?m/ adj. 極度的;極端的

permanent /'p??m?n?nt/ adj. 永久的;永恒的

They are now living together on a permanent basis.

trap /tr?p/ v. 收集;吸收

Solar panels trap energy from the sun.

specialty /'spe??lti/ n. 專業;專長

His specialty is international law.

orbit /'??b?t/ v. 沿軌道運行;圍繞……運動

candidate /'k?nd?d?t/ n. 候選人;申請人