火星軌道器(Mars Orbiter)剛剛發(fā)回了一張令人難以置信的照片

火星軌道器(Mars Orbiter)剛剛發(fā)回了一張令人難以置信的照片，顯示了這顆紅色星球冰冷的北極

A new image from the ESA's Mars Express spacecraft shows how beautiful, and desolate, Mars can appear. It also highlights some of the natural process that shape the planet's surface.

一幅來自歐洲航天局火星快車探測(cè)器的新圖像顯示了火星是多么的美麗和荒涼。它還突出了塑造地球表面的一些自然過程。

The image is of the northern polar region, and it features bright patches of ice, deep dark troughs, and evidence of storms and strong winds.

這幅圖像是北極地區(qū)，它的特點(diǎn)是明亮的冰塊，深深的暗槽，以及風(fēng)暴和強(qiáng)風(fēng)的證據(jù)。

Of all the planets in the Solar System, Mars' seasons most closely resemble Earth's, although the Martian year is about twice as long as Earth's. The north pole goes through many changes throughout the seasons. The region is covered in layers of ice that experience subtle shifts in both their composition and extent.

在太陽系的所有行星中，火星的季節(jié)與地球的季節(jié)最相似，盡管火星的年份大約是地球的兩倍。北極在四季中經(jīng)歷了許多變化。該地區(qū)被冰層覆蓋，冰層的組成和范圍都發(fā)生了微妙的變化。

Thick layers of water ice cover the region throughout the year. Then in winter, when the temperature drops to extremes of -143°C (-225°F), carbon dioxides freezes and precipitates out of the thin air, forming a layer of frozen carbon dioxide on top of the water ice.

該地區(qū)終年覆蓋著厚厚的水冰。到了冬天，當(dāng)溫度下降到零下143°C(零下225°F)時(shí)，二氧化碳會(huì)從稀薄的空氣中凝結(jié)并沉淀，在水冰的表面形成一層凍結(jié)的二氧化碳。

That layer of frozen CO2 can be up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) thick.

那層凍結(jié)的二氧化碳可達(dá)2米(6.5英尺)厚。

At the same time, carbon dioxide clouds also form, and they can conceal the ground below from orbital view.

與此同時(shí)，二氧化碳云也形成了，它們可以從軌道上遮住下面的地面。

Luckily, the Mars Express Orbiter has an extremely powerful camera, called the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC.)

幸運(yùn)的是，火星快車軌道飛行器有一個(gè)非常強(qiáng)大的相機(jī)，叫做高分辨率立體相機(jī)(HRSC)。

The HRSC is a powerful, full-color camera that is imaging the entirety of the Martian surface. Overall, it captures images at about 10-meter resolution.

HRSC是一種功能強(qiáng)大的全彩色照相機(jī)，可以對(duì)整個(gè)火星表面進(jìn)行成像?？偟膩碚f，它能以10米的分辨率捕捉圖像。

Within the HRSC there is another channel called the Super Resolution Camera (SRC) that can capture images at an even greater resolution of 2.3 meters/pixel of 2.35 km sq. The SRC is used on select areas of Mars.

在HRSC內(nèi)部還有另一種被稱為超級(jí)分辨率相機(jī)(SRC)的通道，它可以以更高的分辨率(2.3米/像素，2.35公里平方公里)捕捉圖像。SRC用于火星上選定的區(qū)域。

The strength of HRSC is to perform high resolution digital terrain models of the martian surface in order to provide topographic context for the geoscientific evaluation of surface processes in space and time, says Ralf Jaumann, HRSC Principal Investigator from the Institute of Planetary Research, DLR, Berlin, Germany.

來自德國(guó)柏林DLR行星研究所的HRSC首席研究員Ralf Jaumann說:“HRSC的優(yōu)勢(shì)在于能夠執(zhí)行火星表面的高分辨率數(shù)字地形模型，從而為空間和時(shí)間上的地表過程的地球科學(xué)評(píng)估提供地形背景。”

The leading image is an HRSC image of the northern polar cap in the summer of 2006. The image shows the whites of the polar ices and the browns and reds of Martian dust.

最主要的圖片是2006年夏天HRSC拍攝的北極冰帽。圖片顯示了極地冰的白色和火星塵埃的棕色和紅色。

The red and brown troughs look like they're cutting through the ice, and they're actually part of a larger spiral pattern of troughs that radiate outwards from the center of the north pole. From above, they look like kind of like a pattern of zebra stripes.

紅色和棕色的冰槽看起來像是在切割冰，實(shí)際上它們是一個(gè)更大的螺旋形冰槽的一部分，這些冰槽從北極中心向外輻射。從上面看，它們有點(diǎn)像斑馬條紋的圖案。