Astronomers Discover Fifth Planet Orbiting Distant Star (2/2)

"It's very massive. It might not be the sort of place that, at least life as we know it, would find to be a comfortable environment. However, this planet, in fact, orbits in what we call the habitable zone."

Planets in the habitable zone have a range of temperatures that might support life, if not on the planet itself, then possibly on a moon, if the planet has any moons.

Exoplanets are generally discovered indirectly by detecting changes in the light coming from a star as its orbit is affected by nearby planets. Sometimes it can take years to sort out these Doppler observations.

The more massive the planet, the easier it is to detect. But Debra Fischer, of San Francisco State University, says the growing sophistication of the technique increases the chances of finding planets more like our own.

"So what we're doing right now with our observationaltechnique, the Doppler technique, is taking really the very first steps to finding Earth-like planets. You know, we'll basically give NASA the addresses, the names and addresses, of the most likely candidates for Earth-like planets."

Debra Fischer and her colleagues will publish their findings in an upcomingedition of Astrophysical Journal.

参考译文：

它的质量很大。它可能不是那种至少我们所知道的生命形式能够舒适生存的环境。不过这个行星实际上是在一个我们叫做"可居住带"的轨道上运转。

处在"可居住带"内的行星可能有合适生命存在的温度，如果不是在行星本身，也有可能在它的卫星上，如果这颗行星有卫星的话。

（太阳）系外行星通常是间接被发现的，当恒星的轨道受到附近的行星影响时，能探测到恒星的光发生变化。有时需要数年来整理这些多普勒观测结果。

行星的质量越大，就越容易被探测到。但旧金山州立大学的德布拉菲斯切说，日益精密的技术扩大了找到类地行星的机会。

因此我们利用现有的观测技术--多普勒技术所做的研究正是找到类地行星的最初几步。你知道，我们主要是给NASA提供最类似地球的那些行星的位置和名字。

德布拉菲斯切和她的同事们将把她们的研究成果登在即将出版的《天体物理杂志》上。