ESA Reveals First Artificial Total Eclipse Created by Satellites
TheEuropeanSpaceAgency (ESA) hasrevealedthefirstimagesofanartificialtotaleclipsecreatedbyapairofsatellitesinspaceaspartofitsProba-3mission.
歐洲太空總署 (ESA) 宣布了首批由太空中的一對衛星製造的人工日全食圖像，這是其 Proba-3 任務的一部分。
InMarch, thetwospacecraft, calledtheCoronagraphandtheOcculter, flew150metresapartwhileperfectlyalignedforseveralhourswithoutbeingcontrolledfromtheground.
今年 3 月，兩艘名為「日冕儀」和「掩星器」的太空船在相距 150 公尺的情況下完美對齊飛行了數小時，無需地面控制。
Theextremelyprecisepositions-downtoasinglemillimetre-enabledthesatellitestocreateatotalsolareclipseinorbit.
極其精確的位置（精確到一毫米）使衛星能夠在軌道上產生日全食。
ThesatellitesalignedwiththeSuninawaythatallowedtheOcculterspacecrafttoblockthegiantstar'sbrightdisc, castingashadowacrosstheCoronagraph'sopticalinstrument.
這些衛星與太陽的排列方式使得遮天者號太空船能夠遮擋這顆巨星的明亮圓盤，並在日冕儀的光學儀器上投下陰影。
ThisshadowallowstheCoronagraph'sinstrument, whichiscalledASPIICS, tosuccessfullycaptureimagesoftheoutermostpartoftheSun'satmosphere, knownasthecorona.
這個陰影使得日冕儀的儀器（稱為 ASPIICS）能夠成功捕捉到太陽大氣最外層（即日冕）的影像。
Scientistsincreasinglyneedtostudythecorona, butfindithardtodosowithoutaneclipsebecausethesun'ssurfaceisonemilliontimesbrighter.
科學家越來越需要研究日冕，但如果沒有日食就很難進行研究，因為太陽表面的亮度是日冕的百萬倍。
TheamazingpicturesareuninterruptedbytheSun'sbrightlight.
這些令人驚嘆的照片並未受到太陽明亮光線的干擾。
"Itisexcitingtoseethesestunningimagesvalidateourtechnologiesinwhatisnowtheworld'sfirstprecisionformationflyingmission," saidDietmarPilz, whoistheESA'sdirectoroftechnology, engineeringandquality.
歐洲太空總署技術、工程和品質總監 Dietmar Pilz 表示：“看到這些令人驚嘆的圖像驗證了我們的技術，這真是令人興奮，這是我們目前世界上第一次精確編隊飛行任務。”
TheSun'scoronacanreachtemperaturesofaround 1,000,000 degrees Celsiusormore.
太陽日冕的溫度可達約攝氏 1,000,000 度或更高。
It'smuchhotterthanthesun'ssurfacebelowandthistemperaturedifferenceissomethingthatcontinuestobothintrigueandpuzzleresearchers.
它比下面的太陽表面要熱得多，這種溫差一直讓研究人員既好奇又困惑。
TheProba-3missionaimstotacklethislongstandingmysterybystudyingthecoronainmoredepth.
Proba-3 任務旨在透過更深入地研究日冕來解決這個長期存在的謎團。
TheCoronagraphspacecraft'sinstrumentASPIICSisabletoseemoredetail, findingfainterfeaturesthanothermissions.
日冕儀航天器的儀器 ASPIICS 能夠看到更多細節，發現比其他任務更微弱的特徵。
"SeeingthefirstdatafromASPIICSisincrediblyexciting," saidJoeZenderwhoisascientistontheProba-3project.
Proba-3 計畫的科學家 Joe Zender 表示：“看到 ASPIICS 的第一批數據令人興奮不已。”
"ASPIICSwillcontributetounravellinglong-lastingquestionsaboutourhomestar."
“ASPIICS 將有助於解開有關我們母星的長期問題。”
Ratherthanrelyingonhumans, thespacecraftlinedthemselvesupwiththesuninamanner"akintodriverlesscars", thespaceagencysaid.
該航太局表示，這些太空船並不依賴人類，而是以「類似無人駕駛汽車」的方式自行與太陽對齊。
WhenthespacecraftblastedoffinDecemberlastyear, theyhadenoughfueltokeepgoingforaroundtwoyears.
當太空船去年 12 月發射升空時，其所攜帶的燃料足以維持其飛行約兩年。
Afterfiveyears, itisexpectedtheywillburnupintheEarth'satmosphere.
預計五年後它們將在地球大氣層中燃燒殆盡。
The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed the first images of an artificial total eclipse created by a pair of satellites in space as part of its Proba-3 mission.
In March, the two spacecraft, called the Coronagraph and the Occulter, flew 150 metres apart while perfectly aligned for several hours without being controlled from the ground.
The extremely precise positions - down to a single millimetre - enabled the satellites to create a total solar eclipse in orbit.
The satellites aligned with the Sun in a way that allowed the Occulter spacecraft to block the giant star's bright disc, casting a shadow across the Coronagraph's optical instrument.
This shadow allows the Coronagraph's instrument, which is called ASPIICS, to successfully capture images of the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, known as the corona.
Scientists increasingly need to study the corona, but find it hard to do so without an eclipse because the sun's surface is one million times brighter.
The amazing pictures are uninterrupted by the Sun's bright light.
"It is exciting to see these stunning images validate our technologies in what is now the world's first precision formation flying mission," said Dietmar Pilz, who is the ESA's director of technology, engineering and quality.
The Sun's corona can reach temperatures of around 1,000,000 degrees Celsius or more.
It's much hotter than the sun's surface below and this temperature difference is something that continues to both intrigue and puzzle researchers.
The Proba-3 mission aims to tackle this longstanding mystery by studying the corona in more depth.
The Coronagraph spacecraft's instrument ASPIICS is able to see more detail, finding fainter features than other missions.
"Seeing the first data from ASPIICS is incredibly exciting," said Joe Zender who is a scientist on the Proba-3 project.
"ASPIICS will contribute to unravelling long-lasting questions about our home star."
Rather than relying on humans, the spacecraft lined themselves up with the sun in a manner "akin to driverless cars", the space agency said.
When the spacecraft blasted off in December last year, they had enough fuel to keep going for around two years.
After five years, it is expected they will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
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