要让这颗行星的状态从“候选”到“证实”，“开普勒”小组必须确认三次“行星凌日”的过程。

The Kepler team had to wait for three passes of the planet before upping its status from "candidate" to "confirmed".

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通过寻找凌星行星，开普勒已经确定了700多个”候选恒星“——可能有外行星的恒星。

But Kepler, which hunts by looking for transiting planets, has already identified more than 700 "candidates" — stars that may harbor alien planets.

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天文学家推断系外行星存在的手段有好几种，美国宇航局的开普勒项目使用的是凌日法。

While there are a number of different ways that astronomers infer the existence of exoplanets, NASA's Kepler mission USES what's known as the transit method.

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