Maggie Aderin-Pocock

My name is Maggie Aderin-Pocock， and Im an astrophysicist. As a child， I would look into the night sky and wonder what was out there， if there was another planet like ours. Its a question weve been asking for thousands of years. A question theyre trying to answer here at La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Im here because this mountaintop is home to one of the worlds best telescopes. This is the GTC， the Gran Telescopio Canarias. It acts as a time machine， and its so powerful， it can look back to the beginning of the universe.

The images captured by the GTC are 1）mesmerising. From majestic spiral galaxies to star-forming 2）nebula， the detail and clarity is [sic] extraordinary. But theres a much deeper purpose to this telescopes work. Its searching for one of astronomys holy grails—another planet similar to Earth. In its hunt for other worlds，the telescope doesnt see the planets themselves， theyre too far away. But an 3）exoplanet， a planet outside our solar system， can be detected by a 4）dip in light as it passes in front of its sun.

Riccardo Scarpa （Astronomer）： And here is a graph of an exoplanet.

Maggie： Where is this exoplanet？ Is it an Earth-like exoplanet？

Riccardo： It is an exoplanet orbiting a star in the 5）constellation Lynx at about 150 light years away.

The dip in the graph is the moment the exoplanet 6）eclipses its sun. And this one is the size of Jupiter. But its planets that are in orbits like ours that are more likely to sustain life.

Riccardo： The technique is evolving in order to find smaller and smaller planets， so eventually we will find the Earth-size planets.

我叫玛姬·艾德林-波科克，是一名天体物理学家。小的时候，我就喜欢看着夜空，想象着那里有什么，是否还存在着跟地球一样的另一个星球。过去几千年人类一直在探求这个问题的答案，在加纳利群岛的拉帕尔马岛，也有一群人在尝试解答同样的问题。

我来到这是因为这座山顶上有世界上最好的天文望远镜之一——加纳利大型望远镜，简称GTC。它就像时光机一样，威力强大，能回望宇宙的起源。

GTC拍摄到的影像都有一种摄人心魄的美。从宏伟的螺旋星系到孕育恒星的星云，画面的细致度和清晰度都很出色。但这座望远镜还有着更深层的作用，它在寻找着天文学家们梦寐以求的东西——另一个“地球”。当GTC探寻其他星球时，并不能直接看到星球，因为它们太遥远了。但对于太阳系以外的行星，也就是系外行星，我们还是可以在它运行到自己恒星的前方而导致恒星光度减弱时发现它的踪迹。

里卡度·斯卡帕（天文学家）：这是一颗系外行星的图像。

玛姬：这颗系外行星在哪？是一颗类地行星吗？

里卡度：这是天猫座中的一颗按轨道绕行恒星的系外行星，离我们约150光年远。

图表中数值下降的区域是这颗木星大小的系外行星遮挡住自身恒星的时刻。只有那些像地球一样按轨道运行的星球才更有可能让生命得以延续。

里卡度：我们的技术在不断地进步，以求能观测到更小的星球，最终我们会发现地球大小的行星。