第2499期:‘Mini Moon’ Object Moves Away from Earth’s Orbit(1)

An asteroid that moved closer to Earth’s orbit in recent months is now moving away from our planet as gravity pulls it back toward the sun. 近几个月来，一颗小行星靠近地球轨道，现在由于重力将其拉回太阳而远离我们的星球。 The asteroid is small – about 10 meters long – and never presented any threat to Earth. But the object, known as 2024 PT5, was recently pulled closer to our planet by Earth’s gravitational forces. 这颗小行星很小——大约10米长——并且从未对地球构成任何威胁。但这个被称为 2024 PT5 的物体最近被地球引力拉近了。 Scientists sometimes call such objects “mini-moons.” This is because they behave similarly to the permanent moon orbiting Earth when they are captured by gravity. But they are much smaller and stay only temporarily in Earth’s orbit. 科学家有时将此类物体称为“迷你卫星”。这是因为当它们被重力捕获时，它们的行为类似于绕地球运行的永久月球。但它们要小得多，并且只能暂时停留在地球轨道上。 The American space agency NASA said it does not consider 2024 PT5 a mini-moon because it was never expected to be fully captured by Earth’s gravity. But NASA has described the small asteroid as “an interesting object” that is worthy of study. Such asteroids are considered near-Earth objects. 美国航天局 NASA 表示，它不认为 2024 PT5 是一个迷你月球，因为从未预计它会被地球引力完全捕获。但美国宇航局将这颗小行星描述为“一个有趣的物体”，值得研究。此类小行星被认为是近地天体。 The space agency noted that similarities between the asteroid’s motion and that of Earth suggest the object could be a large piece of rock that broke off from the moon’s surface after an asteroid strike in the distant past. 该航天局指出，小行星的运动与地球的运动之间的相似之处表明，该物体可能是很久以前小行星撞击后从月球表面脱落的一大块岩石。 The object was first observed on August 7 by two astronomer brothers from Spain’s Complutense University of Madrid – Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos. They identified the asteroid through observations made by a telescope in South Africa. 8月7日，来自西班牙马德里康普顿斯大学的两位天文学家兄弟卡洛斯·德拉富恩特·马科斯（Carlos de la Fuente Marcos）和劳尔·德拉富恩特·马科斯（Raúl de la Fuente Marcos）首次观测到了该天体。他们通过南非的望远镜观测发现了这颗小行星。 The Spanish astronomers said it appeared 2024 PT5 is part of a group of near-Earth objects within the Arjuna asteroid belt. They wrote that asteroids in this belt are believed to be “surrounding the path followed by the Earth-moon system.”西班牙天文学家表示，2024 PT5 似乎是阿朱那小行星带内一组近地天体的一部分。他们写道，这条带中的小行星被认为“围绕着地月系统所遵循的路径”。 The Associated Press reported the astronomers had used telescopes in the Spanish Canary Islands, off the coast of northwestern Africa, to make hundreds of observations. The object is currently more than 3.5 million kilometers from Earth. Only powerful telescopes can see the asteroid because of its small size and low brightness. 美联社报道称，天文学家在非洲西北部海岸的西班牙加那利群岛使用望远镜进行了数百次观测。该物体目前距离地球超过350万公里。由于小行星体积小、亮度低，只有强大的望远镜才能看到它。