An ocean on Pluto long thought to have frozen over could actually just be hidden from view by an insulating cloud of gas, scientists say.

科学家们表示，冥王星上长期以来一直被认为已经冻结的海洋，实际上可能只是被一片绝缘的气体云遮住了。

The new research suggests there could be more oceans in the universe than previously thought and increases the possibility of extraterrestrial life .

extraterrestrial[ˌekstrətəˈrestriəl]：originating or located or occurring outside Earth or its atmosphere；

这项新研究表明，宇宙中可能存在比之前认为的更多的海洋，并增加了外星生命存在的可能性。

In July 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew through Pluto’s system and provided the first ever close-up images of the distant dwarf planet and its moons.

2015年7月，美国宇航局的新视野号宇宙飞船飞越冥王星的系统，首次提供了这颗遥远矮行星及其卫星的近距离图像。

After analysing the images, scientists believed a subsurface ocean had to exist underneath an ice shell that thins at a basin roughly the size of Texas called Sputnik Planitia.

subsurface[ˌsʌbˈsɜːfɪs]：beneath the surface；

在分析了这些图像之后，科学家们认为，在一个名为Sputnik Planitia的盆地里，在冰层下曾有海洋存在的迹象，面积与德克萨斯州大致相当。

The team from Japan’s Hokkaido University, the Tokyo Institute of Technology,Tokushima University, Osaka University, Kobe University, and the University of California in Santa Cruz believed the ocean should have frozen over millions of years ago.

来自日本北海道大学、东京理工大学、德岛大学、大阪大学、神户大学和加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的研究小组认为，海洋应该在数百万年前就冻结了。

But the land formation shown in the images contradicted what was previously thought about the surface, as the inner surface of the ice shell that faces towards the ocean should have appeared flat.

但是，图片中所显示的陆地结构与之前对冰层表面的看法相矛盾，因为面向海洋的冰层表面应该是平坦的。

In the new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers created computer simulations covering a timescale of 4.6 billion years, when the solar system began to form, to simulate two scenarios.

simulation[ˌsɪmjuˈleɪʃn]：Simulation is the process of simulating something or the result ofsimulating it.

timescale[ˈtaɪmskeɪl]：the period of time that it takes for sth to happen or be completed；

scenario[səˈnɑːriəʊ]：a description of how things might happen in the future

在发表在《自然地球科学》(Nature Geoscience)杂志上的一项新研究中，研究人员用计算机模拟了46亿年前太阳系开始形成时的两种情景。

The simulations showed that without a gas hydrate insulating layer, the subsurface sea would have frozen over hundreds of millions of years ago as it would have taken just a million years for the ice crust to completely form over the ocean.

模拟结果表明，如果没有气体水合物保温层，地下海洋在数亿年前就会结冰，因为海洋上的冰壳完全形成只需要100万年的时间。

But the results suggested that with the insulating layer the ocean hardly freezes at all, and it slows down the process from one million to one billion years.

但研究结果表明，有了绝缘层，海洋几乎不会结冰，而且它会将这一过程从100万年减缓到10亿年。

The team therefore believe there has to be an "insulating layer" of crystalline ice-like solids formed of gas and trapped within molecular water cages beneath the surface.

因此，研究小组认为，必须有一层由气体形成的冰晶状固体组成的“绝缘层”，并被困在表面下的分子水笼里。

Because these gas hydrates are highly viscous and have low thermal conductivity they could create an insulating effect.

viscous[ˈvɪskəs]：thick and sticky; not flowing freely；

thermal [ˈθɜːml]：connected with heat

由于这些水合物具有高粘性和低导热性，它们可以产生绝缘效果。

The team believes the insulating layer is likely made from methane that comes from Pluto’s rocky core - as Pluto’s atmosphere is methane-poor and nitrogen-rich.

研究小组认为，由于冥王星的大气中甲烷含量低而氮含量高，因此冥王星岩石内核的甲烷很可能构成了这层绝缘层。

Similar gas hydrate insulating layers could be maintaining other subsurface oceans in other icy moons and distant celestial objects,the team say.

celestial[səˈlestiəl]：of the sky or of heaven；

研究小组说，类似的气体水合物保温层可能在其他冰冷的卫星和遥远的天体中维持着其他的地下海洋。

Lead author Associate Professor Shunichi Kamata at Hokkaido University, said:"This could mean there are more oceans in the universe than previously thought, making the existence of extraterrestrial life more plausible."

plausible[ˈplɔːzəbl]：reasonable and likely to be true；

北海道大学副教授Shunichi Kamata说:“这可能意味着宇宙中海洋的数量比之前认为的要多，这使得外星生命的存在更有可能。”

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