2015年2月4日，美國(guó)宇航局公布了“新地平線號(hào)”探測(cè)器最新拍攝的冥王星及其衛(wèi)星圖像。2006年1月19日從佛羅里達(dá)州飛向太空的探測(cè)器，歷時(shí)9年終于到達(dá)冥王星。圖像上赫然出現(xiàn)一個(gè)心形，其實(shí)是氣體凝固后的冰層覆蓋的區(qū)域。
根據(jù)圖像，科學(xué)家還認(rèn)為冥王星有活躍的地質(zhì)活動(dòng)，但這不代表它就是顆行星。2006年8月24日國(guó)際天文學(xué)聯(lián)合會(huì)大會(huì)上，冥王星被投票確定為太陽(yáng)系的“矮行星”，從而也被踢出了九大行星的圈子。當(dāng)然，這一決議引來(lái)了不少爭(zhēng)議。
除了Sputnik Planum，本篇單詞沒(méi)有太難的，但就是得記得，行星首字母要大寫，地球（Earth）也不例外。
沒(méi)聽(tīng)清楚的句子：And then the New Horizon spacecraft take 9 years to get there.
Sputnik Planum: 斯帕尼克平原（冥王星上的心形區(qū)域）
nitrogen: 氮
methane: 甲烷
carbon monoxide: 一氧化碳
音頻下載及鏈接：
3種語(yǔ)速的音頻文件已上傳百度云：鏈接| 密碼: ez6k（在百度云點(diǎn)擊MP3文件名可直接在線聽(tīng)）（原始語(yǔ)速來(lái)自A Moment of Science官網(wǎng)，1.5倍及2.0倍語(yǔ)速版本為我個(gè)人后期調(diào)整的）
本期文章原始音頻、配圖及文本均來(lái)自A Moment of Science官網(wǎng)：鏈接
文本：（參照源網(wǎng)頁(yè)的文字、根據(jù)實(shí)際錄音內(nèi)容修改而成）：
Y: We finally make it to Pluto, Don.
D: That's right, Yaya. And then ?the New Horizon spacecraft take nine years to get there.
Y: Pluto is over 4.5 billion miles from Earth. Even with a speed of 39,000 miles per hour, it still takes a long time to travel that far. But it was worth the long wait.
D: I bet scientists were surprised to find Pluto has a heart.
Y: What looks like a heart-shaped area in Pluto’s Sputnik Planum region is really ice. The area measures about a thousand miles across. That's the size of Texas. And it’s not water ice. It’s made up of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide is thickest in the whiter areas of the heart.
D: Those are common gases here on Earth. Are you telling me they are solids and not gases on Pluto?
Y: Yes, Don. Being so very far from the sun, Pluto is a super cold place. The gases remain frozen, but not permanent. High resolution photos suggest that Pluto’s ice may have moved recently, like glaciers here on Earth. That means there has been some geological activity, at least within the last 100 million years. The ice also has dark streaks that are a few miles long. These are aligned in the same direction and may have been produced by winds blowing across the surface.
D: Winds?
Y: Pluto also has an atmosphere that extends about 80 miles above the surface.
D: So, Pluto isn’t just a dead rock like our moon.
Y: No. It appears to be geologically active.
D: Like a planet?
Y: Oh no, Don. We are not starting the "Pluto is a planet" argument again.
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