原文取自： http://www.universetoday.com/2008/01/04/ organic-molecules-found-outside-our-solar-system/#more-12327 written by Nicholos Wethington Organic Molecules Found Outside our Solar System 在太陽系外找到的有機分子 Organic molecules are thought by scientists to be instrumental in kickstarting life as we know it on Earth. Within our Solar System they can be found in comets, and they cause the redness of the clouds of Saturn's moon Titan. New observations of a planet-forming disk around a star 220 light-years from Earth reveal for the first time that these molecules exist elsewhere in the Universe. 科學家認為有機分子有助於開創地球上已知的生命。在太陽系內，有機分子 可以在彗星內找到，並造成土星衛星泰坦雲層的紅化。對一個距地球220光年 遠、行星正形成中的環星盤的新觀測顯示，這些分子可以存在於宇宙中其他 地方。 Astronomers at the Carnegie Institute have detected the presence of organic molecules in the dusty disk surrounding HR 4796A, an eight-million year-old star in the constellation Centaurus. Using Hubble's Near-Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer they analyzed the light coming from the disk and found that its red color is due to large organic carbon molecules called tholins. The analysis ruled out other causes of the red light, such as iron oxide. 卡內基研究所的天文學家在環繞恆星HR 4796A的塵埃盤內偵測到有機分子。這是 顆位於半人馬座，年齡為八百萬年的恆星。科學家使用哈伯望遠鏡的近紅外線多 天體光譜儀分析來自環星盤的光，並發現其偏紅的顏色肇因於一種稱為“tholins” 的大型有機碳分子。這項分析排除了其它造成紅光物質的可能性，例如氧化鐵。 “Until recently it’s been hard to know what makes up the dust in a disk from scattered light, so to find tholins this way represents a great leap in our understanding,” said John Debes of the Carnegie Institute's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, one of the authors of the study. 「直到最近，我們還是難以從散射光得知環星盤中的塵埃是由什麼構成，所以 找到tholins對我們而言是很大的進展。」研究作者之一，卡內基研究所地磁 部門的約翰‧德貝斯 (John Debes) 表示。 Just as in our early Solar System, the disk of dust is in the process of forming planets. The collision of small bodies like asteroids and comets creates the dust in the disk, and the organic molecules present on these objects could then be scattered on any planets orbiting the star. This discovery makes it clear that it is possible for organic molecules to exist in the early stages of planet formation, paving the way for the possible development of life later on. 正如我們的早期太陽系，這個塵埃盤也正在形成行星。如小行星、彗星之類的小 天體的碰撞造成了環星盤中的塵埃，因此這些小天體上的有機分子得以散播到任 何環繞此恆星的行星上。這項發現證實了有機分子能存在於行星形成的早期過程 中，替隨後可能發生的生命演進鋪路。 Organic molecules are thought to be essential to the development biological organisms because they are made up of carbon, the building block of life on Earth. The discovery of these molecules elsewhere in the Universe does not mean that life exists there yet – or even that it will in the future – but it does increase the tantalizing prospect of life forming outside our Solar System. 有機分子被認為是生物組織發展的必需品，因為它們由碳組成，而碳是地球生命 的基石。在宇宙中其他地方發現這些分子，並不代表生命就存於─甚至將來可能 存於─該處。但這還是增添許多對於太陽系外生命形成的遐想。 --

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