太阳环绕器第一次通过近日点

Solar Orbiter makes first close approach to the Sun

ESA’s Sun-exploring mission Solar Orbiter has made its first close approach to the star on June 15, getting as close as 77 million kilometres to its surface, about half the distance between the Sun and Earth.

欧洲空间局的太阳探测计划“太阳环绕器”在六月十五日进行第一次太阳接近，届时他会飞抵距太阳表面七千七百万公里处，约为日地距离的一半。

In the week following this first perihelion, the point in the orbit closest to the Sun, the mission scientists will test the spacecraft’s ten science instruments, including the six telescopes on-board, which will acquire close-up images of the Sun in unison for the first time. According to ESA’s Solar Orbiter Project Scientist Daniel Müller, the images, to be released in mid-July, will be the closest images of the Sun ever captured.

>Perihelion n. 近日点

>Unison n./adj. 共同/和谐的

在近日点后一周中，负责该任务的科学家会测试这台探测器的十台科学仪器，包括搭载的六台首次用来拍摄太阳近距合成照片的望远镜。根据ESA太阳环绕器团队的科学家丹尼尔·穆勒，这个将会在七月中旬发布的照片将会成为迄今为止人类在距离太阳最近处获得的图像。

“We have never taken pictures of the Sun from a closer distance than this,” Daniel says. “There have been higher resolution close-ups, e.g. taken by the four-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii earlier this year. But from Earth, with the atmosphere between the telescope and the Sun, you can only see a small part of the solar spectrum that you can see from space.”

>resolution n. 分辨率

>spectrum n. 光谱

“我们还从未在距离太阳如此近的距离下拍摄太阳”丹尼尔说“这比之前的有更高的分辨率，而且更近，比如今年早些时候由在夏威夷的四米口径丹尼尔·井上太阳望远镜。但因为从地球观测，望远镜与太阳间的大气的吸收，你只能看到能从太空中观测到的太阳光谱中的一小部分。

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, makes closer approaches. The spacecraft, however, doesn’t carry telescopes capable of looking directly at the Sun.

NASA在2018年发射的帕克太阳探测器距离太阳更加接近，然而并没有搭载适合直接观测太阳的望远镜。

“Our ultraviolet imaging telescopes have the same spatial resolution as those of NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), which takes high-resolution images of the Sun from an orbit close to Earth. Because we are currently at half the distance to the Sun, our images have twice SDO’s resolution during this perihelion,” says Daniel.

>Ultraviolet n. 紫外线

>Spatial adj. 空间的

“我们的紫外线成像望远镜拥有与NASA的太阳动力学天文台（SDO）相同的空间分辨率。太阳动力学天文台能在地球轨道拍摄高分辨率的图像。在通过近日点时，因为我们处于日地距离的一半，我们的图像将会有SDO图像的两倍的分辨率。”丹尼尔说。

The primary objective of these early observations is to prove that Solar Orbiter’s telescopes are ready for future scientific observations.

这些早期观测的主要目标在于证明太阳环绕器上的望远镜都已为接下来的科学观测做好万全的准备。

“For the first time, we will be able to put together the images from all our telescopes and see how they take complementary data of the various parts of the Sun including the surface, the outer atmosphere, or corona, and the wider heliosphere around it,” says Daniel.

>Complementary adj. 补充的

>Corona n. 日冕

>Heliosphere n. 日球层

“这会是第一次，我们能够将这几台不同的望远镜的图像进行合成并检查他们收获的有关太阳不同结构的补充数据，包括太阳表面、外层大气、日冕以及最外层的日球层。”丹尼尔说。

The scientists will also analyse data from the four in-situ instruments that measure properties of the environment around the spacecraft, such as the magnetic field and the particles making up the solar wind.

这些科学家也将会分析来自四台环境仪器的数据，那些仪器监测航天器所处在的环境的各项性质比如由磁场与粒子组成的太阳风。

“This is the first time that our in-situ instruments operate at such a close distance to the Sun, providing us with a unique insight into the structure and composition of the solar wind,” says Yannis Zouganelis, ESA’s Solar Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist. “For the in-situ instruments, this is not just a test, we are expecting new and exciting results.”

     “这是首次我们的环境仪器在距太阳如此近的距离下工作，这会提供我们独特的视角来观测太阳风的结构与组成。”太阳环绕器团队的科学家雅尼斯•祖加尼里斯说，“对于我们的环境仪器来说，这不仅仅是一次测试，我们也十分期待这些新的，令人兴奋的结果。”

Solar Orbiter, launched on 10 February this year, is completing its commissioning phase on 15 June and will commence its cruise phase, which will last until November 2021. During the main science phase that follows, the spacecraft will get as close as 42 million kilometres to the Sun’s surface, which is closer than the planet Mercury.

>commission v. 调试

>commence v. 开始，着手做

太阳环绕器，在今年二月十日发射，在六月十五日完成调试阶段，将会进入巡航阶段并持续至2021年十一月。紧接着进入主要的科学探测阶段，探测器将会到达距太阳表面四千两百万公里，这个距离比水星还要接近太阳。

The spacecraft will reach its next perihelion in early 2021. During the first close approach of the main science phase, in early 2022, it will get as close as 48 million kilometres.

探测器将会在2021年初再次达到近日点。在主要科学探测期中，将会在2022年初第一次到达近日点，届时将距离太阳四千八百万公里。

Solar Orbiter operators will then use the gravity of Venus to gradually shift the spacecraft’s orbit out of the ecliptic plane, in which the planets of the Solar System orbit. These fly-by manoeuvres will enable Solar Orbiter to look at the Sun from higher latitudes and get the first ever proper view of its poles. Studying the activity in the polar regions will help the scientists to better understand the behaviour of the Sun’s magnetic field, which drives the creation of the solar wind that in turn affects the environment of the entire Solar System.

>manoeuvres n./v. 演习

>latitudes n. 纬度

太阳环绕器的操作团队在之后将会利用金星的引力逐渐改变探测器的轨道，从与行星轨道平行的椭圆轨道中改出。这些飞越动作将会使探测器能够从更高的纬度观测太阳并能第一次且准确的观察太阳的极点。对于太阳两极地区的研究能让研究人员更好的了解与太阳风有关的太阳磁场活动，并且研究太阳风对整个太阳系环境的影响。

Since the spacecraft is currently 134 million kilometres from Earth, it will take about a week for all perihelion images to be downloaded via ESA’s 35-m deep-space antenna in Malargüe, Argentina. The science teams will then process the images before releasing them to the public in mid-July. The data from the in-situ instruments will become public later this year after a careful calibration of all individual sensors.

>calibration n. 校准

尽管探测器如今距离地球一亿三千四百万公里，这将会花费几个月时间通过ESA在阿根廷马拉格的35米深空探测天线在来下载所有近日点时的图片。太阳环绕器的科学团队将在七月中旬公布这些图像前先处理分析它们。环境仪器的数据将会在精密校准每一个传感器后在年底被公开。

“We have a nine-hour download window every day but we are already very far from Earth so the data rate is much lower than it was in the early weeks of the mission when we were still very close to Earth,” says Daniel. “In the later phases of the mission, it will occasionally take up to several months to download all the data because Solar Orbiter really is a deep space mission. Unlike near-Earth missions, we can store a lot of data on-board and downlink it when we are closer to home again and the data connection is much better.” 

“我们每天会有九小时的下载窗口，但探测器已经离地球很远，因此下载速率比任务刚开始，距离地球很近时慢很多。”丹尼尔说，“在接下来的任务阶段，由于太阳环绕器是一个深空探测项目，有时需要几个月时间来下载数据。与近地项目不同，我们能够在探测器上储存一些数据并在距离地球较近，数据链接更好的时候传输数据。”

个人翻译，原文来自ESA

http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Solar_Orbiter_makes_first_close_approach_to_the_Sun