好奇号发回首张全景彩色照片

时间：2012-08-10 07:38:19

（单词翻译:单击）

Nasa's new Mars rover has returned its first 360-degree colour panorama¹ from the surface of the Red Planet.

美宇航局新着陆的火星探测车发回了红色星球的首张360度全景彩色照片。

The Curiosity robot used its wideangle science camera placed high up on a mast to acquire the frames.

The low-resolution vista² shows at centre the big mountain that lies in the middle of Gale³ Crater⁴, the deep depression in which the rover landed.

Curiosity's ultimate goal is to drive towards this peak - informally known as Mount Sharp - to study its rocks.

"This is a very low-resolution panorama（全景）," explained Mike Malin, the principal investigator⁵ on the rover's Mastcam cameras.

"The individual frames are only 144 by 144 pixels. There are 130 of them in there. It took us about an hour and six minutes to take the mosaic（马赛克，镶嵌）.

"For the full-resolution panorama, the data volume will be 64 times larger, [and] the resolution will be eight times better. But this was pretty enough and interesting enough that we thought it was worth sharing with you guys," he told BBC News.

The colour is what the camera saw. Apart from the process of blending the individual frames, the only modification⁶ made was to brighten the image slightly.

Pictures are deliberately⁷ acquired underexposed（曝光不足的） so as not to saturate⁸ any bright regions in the field of view.

Rock target

The full-resolution frames are currently held in the camera memory, but at 2MB per shot it will take some time to get them all back on Earth.

Curiosity has two Mastcams. The one that took this panorama is a 34mm camera. The other camera has a 100mm telephoto lens. The two can be used together to make stereo pictures.

The Mastcams will be paramount⁹（最重要的） in helping¹⁰ to plan Curiosity's science mission, choosing where to drive and which rock targets to investigate.

Researchers want eventually to take the robot to the base of Mount Sharp.

Evidence from satellite photos has suggested there are sediments¹¹ exposed at the base of the 5.5km-high peak that were laid down in the presence of abundant water.

The rover will use its instruments to try to understand what kind of environments existed at the time of the rocks' formation, and whether there were periods in Mars history when any type of microbial life could have thrived.

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收听单词发音

1 panorama
n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置]
参考例句：
A vast panorama of the valley lay before us.山谷的广阔全景展现在我们面前。 A flourishing and prosperous panorama spread out before our eyes.一派欣欣向荣的景象展现在我们的眼前。

2 vista
n.远景，深景，展望，回想
参考例句：
From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。 These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

3 gale
n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）
参考例句：
We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。 According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

4 crater
n.火山口，弹坑
参考例句：
With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。 They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

5 investigator
n.研究者，调查者，审查者
参考例句：
He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。 The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 modification
n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻
参考例句：
The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。 The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

7 deliberately
adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地
参考例句：
The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。 They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

8 saturate
vt.使湿透，浸透；使充满，使饱和
参考例句：
We'll saturate California with the rise in its crime rate.我们将使加利福尼亚州的犯罪案件增长率达到饱和点。 Saturate the meat in the mixture of oil and herbs.把肉浸泡在油和作料的卤汁里。

9 paramount
a.最重要的，最高权力的
参考例句：
My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。 Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

10 helping
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的
参考例句：
The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。 By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 sediments
沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )；沉积物
参考例句：
When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。 Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。