它只是柯伊伯带天体的一员。
无论如何，这是科学家第一次在柯伊伯带天体上发现这种表面特征。
Either way, it's the first time astronomers have observed this kind of surface detail on an object in the Kuiper Belt.
柯伊伯带天体上的人工照明之所以会显得特别突出是因为不管它转向或者转离太阳，其所反射的太阳光都不会变化很大。
Artificial illumination on a Kuiper Belt Object would stand out because it would vary less than reflected sunlight does when the world moved toward or away from the sun.
十年前，当他和海登天文馆的成员们重新设计馆内展品时，他们把冥王星划入了柯伊伯带天体的集团中，还不是与八大行星在一起。
A decade ago, when he and the Hayden staff redesigned the planetarium's exhibits, they lumped Pluto with the Kuiper Belt objects rather than with the eight official planets.
它是为进入火星和木星之间的小行星带中环绕一个天体的轨道而进行的第一次探索。
It is the first probe to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
尽管如此，灶神星却是个能令人印象深刻的天体——它是火星与木星之间的小行星带中的第二大的星体。
It is nonetheless an impressive object - the second most massive asteroid in the belt of rocky debris that orbits between Mars and Jupiter.
冥王星、厄里斯和许多其他柯伊伯带的天体对于八大行星来说太不同了，无法归为一类，他说。
Pluto, Eris and the many other Kuiper Belt objects are far too different to be lumped in with the eight official planets, he said.
柯伊伯带(它如今被认为包含了1000多个冰态天体，还有许许多多正即将被发现)直到1992年才被发现。
The Kuiper Belt - which is now known to host more than 1,000 icy bodies, with many more likely to be discovered - wasn't even discovered until 1992.
科学家估计柯伊伯带很有可能存在有几万个大小超过60英里(100公里)的冰矮天体，还有数量在万亿以上的彗星。
Scientists estimate the Kuiper belt is likely home to hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 60 miles (100 km) wide, as well as an estimated trillion or more comets.
研究人员推测数这些碎块经过数十亿年的互相碰撞，柯伊伯型天体磨得更碎，柯伊伯带原始状态不再。
Researchers surmise that over billions of years the debris should collide, grinding the KBO-type objects down to ever smaller pieces that were not part of the original Kuiper Belt population.
现在天体物理学家说，他们终于发现了这条长期存在于传说中的反质子带。
Now astrophysicists say they've finally discovered this long-fabled belt of antiprotons.
这样看来，冥王星应该属于行星，就像厄里斯和矮行星谷神星(火星和木星之间的小行星带里最大的天体)，以及许多其他的物体也应如此。
So Pluto should be a planet, as should Eris and the dwarf planet Ceres (the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter), as well as many other objects.
“我把冥王星与其他柯伊伯带冰态天体归为一类，”纽约海登天文馆的负责人Neil deGrasse Tyson说，“我认为它在那更合适，真的。
"I group Pluto with the other icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt," said Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium. "I think it's happier there, actually.
上个月底，一位来自贝尔法斯特（北爱尔兰首府，最大海港，译者注）皇后大学的天文学家的研究表明，在柯伊伯带中最大而奇怪的天体，守护石星（Haumea，小行星136108，这颗小行星并没有官方的中文译名，这个译名是我参考其他用法拟的，不当之处请指正。 译者注）的表面存在着红点。
Late last month, an astronomer from Queen’s University in Belfast reported the existence of a red spot on the surface of Haumea, one of the largest and weirdest objects in the Kuiper Belt.
去年在柯伊柏带发现了一颗比冥王星略大的天体，这引发了是给冥王星降级还是承认新发现的天体是大行星的争论。
The discovery of an icy object slightly larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt last year reinvigorated the argument over whether to demote Pluto or add other planets.
天文学家预计柯依伯带中可能会发现比冥王星大的天体。
Astronomers expect yet-undiscovered Kuiper Belt objects may rival even Pluto.
“黎明号”于2007年发射升空，是首个探测小行星带两颗最大天体灶神星和谷神星的飞行器。
Launched in 2007, Dawn is the first mission to explore Vesta and Ceres, the two largest members of the asteroid belt.
有意思的是，我们太早发现冥王星了，在很长一段时间内它是我们在那一带唯一知道的天体。
"It's just a funny historical accident that we found Pluto so early, and that it was the only thing known out there for so long," Brown told SPACE. com.
科学家们在柯伊伯带不断发现越来越大的天体。加州理工学院的天文学家麦克·布朗和他的团队发现的2005FY 9仅比冥王星小一点点。
Astronomers had been turning up larger and larger objects in the Kuiper Belt. 2005 FY9, discovered by Caltech astronomer Mike Brown and his team is only a little smaller than Pluto.
现在大家知道，冥王星及其卫星们只是被称作柯伊伯带的天体群中较大的例子，和太阳系其他行星不同，不是其所在区域的唯一行星。
Instead of being the only planet in its region, like the rest of the Solar System, Pluto and its moons are now known to be just a large example of a collection of objects called the Kuiper Belt.
Quaoar位于柯依伯带，海王星以外一大群由冰和岩石构成的天体中。
Quaoar lies in the Kuiper Belt, a swarm of objects made of ice and rock that orbit the sun beyond Neptune.
随着美国宇航局再次审批和拨款，探测器将前往柯伊伯带的其他天体上，柯伊伯带是太阳系降生时的冰态残留物质遗留构成的一个太空区域。
With extra Nasa approval and funding, the probe will travel to other objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region of space that contains many frozen leftovers from the construction of our Solar System.
“我们在我们的小行星带发现确实有水的物体越多，就越能说服我们那是一个让地球再水化的过程，”美国航空航天局的天体生物学者玛丽沃伊泰克说。
"The more we find in our asteroid belt objects that do have water, the more convinced we are that that was a possible process to rehydrate the earth," said NASA astrobiologist Mary Voytek.
图片显示的是位于小行星带的最大天体——谷神星，由正在飞往它的美国航天器“黎明号”在几天前看到的。
THE picture shows Ceres, the largest objectin the asteroid belt, as seen a few days ago from Dawn, an American spacecraftthat is en route there.
图片显示的是位于小行星带的最大天体——谷神星，由正在飞往它的美国航天器“黎明号”在几天前看到的。
THE picture shows Ceres, the largest objectin the asteroid belt, as seen a few days ago from Dawn, an American spacecraftthat is en route there.
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