Vulcan?

A new planet
新行星

Vulcan?
火神星？

Time to start giving extrasolar planets proper names
该替太阳系之外的行星适当取名了



ASTRONOMERS are a curious bunch. Some like to name things. Others prefer numbers and letters. Those who study the solar system fall into the former camp. Every planet, asteroid, moon, mountain and crater has its name. Mankind's mythologies have been ransacked so thoroughly that the need to identify each orbiting rock has resulted in such curiosities as Zappafrank, Lennon, McCartney and even Bagehot. Those who study other planetary systems have been more restrained. Planets orbiting stars beyond the sun are labelled merely with the name of the star and a suffix letter. Even if planets and moons were found round Alpha Centauri, as envisaged by the writers of "Avatar", they would not get glorious monikers like Polyphemus and Pandora. They would just be letters―and lower-case ones, to boot.
天文学家们是一群奇妙之人，有些喜欢冠以星球名字，有些则喜欢用数字和字母来标识。研究太阳系的天文学家属于前一个阵营，替每一行星、小行星、月亮、山岳及陨石坑都取了自己的名字。人类的神话故事已被倾囊搜遍，那些需要甄别的岩石行星甚至被冠上"Zappafrank"、列农（Lennon）、麦卡特尼（McCartney）、以至巴杰特（Bagehot）这类离奇的名字。研究其它行星系的天文家则比较拘谨。属于太阳以外恒星的行星们仅仅能得到该恒星的名称，外加一个后缀字母。即使像《阿凡达》作者所设想的那些绕着半人马座阿尔法星（Alpha Centauri）周围循环的行星及其卫星，它们也不会得到的"波吕斐摩斯"(Polyphemus） 和"潘多拉"(Pandora) 这般星光璀璨的名称。它们只是一些字母，并且还是小写的字母。

That is sad. Though the nominative diarrhoea of the solar system may have gone a little far, a well-chosen name is both picturesque and memorable. Perhaps, therefore, it is time to change the convention and give such a name to an extrasolar planet. And an ideal candidate has just turned up―one that matches one of astronomy's own myths: the legendary, non-existent planet Vulcan.
这真是悲剧也。虽然太阳系内的名字起得比较出格了，但精心挑选的名字引经据典，令人难忘。因此，也许到了改变星际命名公约，应该给太阳系外的行星起个好名字的时候了。现在，恰巧有颗理想的星球入选――它与天文学神话之一：传说中不曾存在的行星："火神星"（Vulcan）相像。

Kepler-10b, to give this planet's current name, is the latest discovery by Kepler, an American spacecraft. The new object, whose existence was announced on January 10th at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, in Seattle, is causing excitement because it is the smallest extrasolar planet yet discovered. Its diameter is a mere 1.4 times that of Earth, though it weighs 4.6 terrestrial masses. What makes it Vulcanlike, though, is that it circles its star, Kepler-10, once every 20 hours, in an orbit a twentieth the size of Mercury's.
这颗星球现在被叫做Kepler-10b，是美国航天器Kepler的最新发现。美国天文学会于1月10日在西雅图会议上宣布了它的存在。这颗目前在太阳系的外星系中所发现的最小行星引起了兴奋关注：其直径只有地球的1.4倍，但重量达地球的4.6倍。说它像"火神星"，是因为它每20小时以轨迹相当于水星轨迹的1/20的长度绕其恒星（Kepler-10）一周。

Astronomers of the 19th century spent decades searching for a planet within Mercury's orbit, and confidently named it after the fireloving Roman god of smiths even before they found it. Their reason for thinking Vulcan existed was that Mercury's orbit behaved as if a more inward planet was tugging on it.
19世纪的天文学家花了几十年时间寻找在水星轨道之内的行星，并且在未找到这颗星之前就自信地将它以罗马爱火的铁匠之神（Vulcan）命名。他们认为"火神星"有存在的理由，因为水星的轨迹表现出如同受到了一个更接近内层星球的拉动。

That discrepancy was eventually explained by Einstein as a relativistic effect of the sun's gravity, and the search for Vulcan petered out. Kepler-10b, however, has some curious parallels with the solar system's non-existent innermost planet. The first is its location so close to its parent star. Second, despite its size, it is quite heavy. That would have been a useful characteristic in the original Vulcan, had it been real. Third, its high mass probably means it is made of iron, an appropriate material for a planet named after a divine smith. And fourth, it was found in exactly the way the hunt for Vulcan proceeded―by noting the slight dip in light from its parent star caused when it passed in front of that star.
这种差别最终被爱因斯坦以太阳引力相对效应解释清楚了，因此对"火神星"的搜索也逐渐淡失。然而对Kepler -10b的好奇与当年搜索太阳系内不存在的近核心行星颇有相似之处。首先是新行星的位置非常接近其所属恒星，其次，它虽小却相当沉重。如果当年真找到了火神星的话，那颗星也会具备这个有用的特征。第三，新星的高重量值可能意味着它由铁组成，正好适合用火神并且是一名铁匠来命名。第四，发现它的方法正和当年寻找火神星时依据的原理一样――即当行星在其围绕的恒星前穿过时，恒星的光线略有折射。这点被捕捉到了。

Numbers have their place in science, of course. Indeed, the subject is founded on them. But the driving force behind a lot of scientific activity is far more romantic than many non-scientists appreciate―and the search for other Earths, with their tantalising promise of other life forms, is about as romantic as it gets.
诚然，数字在科学领域中占有重要的位置，且科学就建立在数字的基础之上。但是驱动科学实践背后的浪漫理想远远超出了许多非科学家所能意识到的范围――寻找其他的地球，以及那些地球上可能有其他生命形式的吸引力，是这种浪漫理想的极致。

Keep numbers, then, in their proper place―for counting things. For describing them, names are better. And where better to start the process of naming the unfolding atlas of new planets than with the magical smith who was Venus's husband and cuckolded by Mars?
那么就把数字保留在其合适的位置上――用于计算物体吧。若描叙物体的话还是起名为佳。在打开太空图，开始替新行星取名的时候，还有什么，能好过用一位娶了维纳斯女神却被马尔斯神戴了绿帽子的神奇铁匠"火神"来命名一颗新行星呢？