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Ninth planet may have been discovered, researchers say

研究人員稱第九大行星或被發現

You might have a replacement, Pluto. There could be another planet in our solar system.

人們也許找到了冥王星的替代者。在太陽系中可能有另一個星球能充當第九大行星的角色。

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have found evidence in the outer solar system of an object that could be a real ninth planet.

加州理工學院的研究人員發現，太陽系外圍的一顆行星能夠成為真正的第九大行星。

Nicknamed Planet Nine, it "has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun" than Neptune. That means "it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun," according to Caltech.

加州理工學院透露。這顆被叫做九號行星的星球“質量是地球的十倍，而到太陽的平均距離是海王星到太陽距離的20倍。”這表明“這顆行星圍繞太陽運行一周需要大約1萬到2萬地球年。”

Researchers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown haven’t actually seen the planet, but other research helped lead them to conclude that there is one. Basically, they found that certain objects in the Kuiper Belt -- the field of icy objects and debris beyond Neptune -- had orbits that peculiarly pointed in the same direction.

研究人員Konstantin Batygin和Mike Brown還沒有看見這顆行星，但是其他研究結果讓他們確定確實有這顆行星存在。他們基本上發現，柯伊伯帶上的物體擁有同樣方向的軌道。柯伊伯帶是越過海王星充滿結冰物體和碎片的地帶。

Over time, mathematical modeling and computer simulation led them to the conclusion that a planet was exerting the gravity necessary to shape these orbits.

隨著時間流逝，他們利用數學建模和計算機模擬得出了有一顆星球利用其重力來形成這些軌道的結論。

Brown says "there have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third. It’s a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that’s still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting."

Brown說：“自古代以來，人類只發現了兩顆真實的行星，而這次這顆會成為第三顆。這是太陽系中能夠找到的堅固物塊，讓人十分興奮。”

Already, Caltech is pretty confident Planet Nine is large enough to rule out any debate about whether it’s a true planet -- unlike Pluto, which got the boot in 2006.

加州理工學院十分自信，認為九號行星足夠大，能夠駁回一切關于它是否是真實星球的爭辯。而冥王星則不同，在2006年被摘去九大行星的名號。

Brown, who played a role in Pluto’s demotion to a dwarf planet, says "all those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found. Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again."

Brown曾參與過將冥王星降級為白矮星的工作，他說：“所有為冥王星不再是行星而憤怒的人們會因為知道仍有一顆待于發現的真實行星而激動不已。現在我們能夠找到這顆行星，并且再次列出太陽系九大行星。”

Depending on where Planet Nine is in its "bizarre, highly elongated orbit," many telescopes have a shot at finding it. Brown would love to find a planet he helped discover, "but I’d also be perfectly happy if someone else found it. That is why we’re publishing this paper. We hope that other people are going to get inspired and start searching."

根據九號行星處在“奇異且極其細長的軌道”上，許多望遠鏡都有機會觀測到它。Brown很想找到他幫忙發現的行星。他說：“但如果別人找到了它，我也會很高興。這就是我們出版這篇論文的原因。我們希望別人能夠從中得到啟發并開始尋找。”