首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Someone once put forward an attractive though unlikely theory. Throughout the Earth’s annual revolution around the sun there is
Someone once put forward an attractive though unlikely theory. Throughout the Earth’s annual revolution around the sun there is
admin
2014-04-25
74
问题
Someone once put forward an attractive though unlikely theory. Throughout the Earth’s annual revolution around the sun there is one point of space always hidden from our eyes. This point is the opposite part of the Earth’s orbit, which is always hidden by the sun. Could there be another planet there, essentially similar to our own, but always invisible?
If a space probe today sent back evidence that such a world existed it would cause not much more sensation than Sir William Herschel’s discovery of a new planet, Uranus, in 1781.
Herschel was an extraordinary man—no other astronomer has ever covered so vast a field of work—and his career deserves study. He was born in Hanover in Germany in 1738, left the German army in 1757, and arrived in England the same year with no money but quite exceptional music ability. He played the violin and oboe and at one time was organist in the Octagon Chapel in the city of Bath. Herschel’s was an active mind, and deep inside he was conscious that music was not his destiny; he therefore read widely in science and the arts, but not until 1772 did he come across a book on astronomy. He was then 34, middle-aged by the standards of the time, but without hesitation he embarked on his new career, financing it by his professional work as a musician. He spent years mastering the art of telescope construction, and even by present-day standards his instruments are comparable with the best.
Serious observation began in 1774. He set himself the astonishing task of ’ reviewing the heavens’, in other words, pointing his telescope to every accessible part of the sky and recording what he saw. The first review was made in 1775; the second, and most momentous, in 1780- 1781. It was during the latter part of this that he discovered Uranus. Afterwards, supported by the royal grant in recognition of his work, he was able to devote himself entirely to astronomy. His final achievements spread from the sun and moon to remote galaxies(of which he discovered hundreds), and papers flooded from his pen until his death in 1822.
Among these there was one sent to the Royal Society in 1781, entitled An Account of a Comet. In his own words:
On Tuesday the 13th of March, between ten and eleven in the evening , while I was examining the small stars in the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, I perceived one that appeared visibly larger than the rest; being struck with its uncommon magnitude, I compared it to H Geminorum and the small star in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini, and finding it to be much larger than either of them, suspected it to be a comet.
Herschel’s care was the hallmark of a great observer; he was not prepared to jump to any conclusions. Also, to be fair, the discovery of a new planet was the last thought in anybody’s mind. But further observation by other astronomers besides Herschel revealed two curious facts. For a comet, it showed a remarkably sharp disc; furthermore, it was moving so slowly that it was thought to be a great distance from the sun, and comets are only normally visible in the immediate vicinity of the sun. As its orbit came to be worked out the truth dawned that it was a new planet far beyond Saturn’s realm, and that the ’reviewer of the heavens’ had stumbled across an unprecedented prize. Herschel wanted to call it georgium sidus(Star of George)in honour of his royal patron King George III of Great Britain. The planet was later for a time called Herschel in honour of its discoverer. The name Uranus, which was first proposed by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, was in use by the late 19th century.
Uranus is a giant in construction, but not so much in size; its diameter compares unfavourably with that of J upiter and Saturn, though on the terrestrial scale it is still colossal. Uranus’ atmosphere consists largely of hydrogen and helium, with a trace of methane. Through a telescope the planet appears as a small bluish-green disc with a faint green periphery. In 1977, while recording the occulta-tion1 of a star behind the planet, the American astronomer James L. Elliot discovered the presence of five rings encircling the equator of Uranus. Four more rings were discovered in January 1986 during the exploratory flight of Voyager 22. In addition to its rings, Uranus has 15 satellites(’ moons’), the last 10 discovered by Voyager 2 on the same flight; all revolve about its equator and move with the planet in an east-west direction. The two largest moons, Titania and Oberon, were discovered by Herschel in 1787. The next two, Umbriel and Ariel, were found in 1851 by the British astronomer William Lassell. Miranda, thought before 1986 to be the innermost moon, was discovered in 1948 by the American astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper.
Glossary:
1occultation in astronomy, when one object passes in front of another and hides the second from view, especially, for example, when the moon comes between an observer and a star or planet
2Voyager 2 an unmanned spacecraft sent on a voyage past Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter in 1986, during which it sent back information about these planets to scientists on earth
Questions 27-31
Complete the table below.
Write a date for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 27 - 31 on your answer sheet.
选项
答案
1977
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/NmNO777K
本试题收录于:
雅思阅读题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思阅读
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
ForeachofQuestions1to9,compareQuantityAandQuantityB,usingadditionalinformationcenteredabovethetwoquantities
Approximatelywhatwasthepercentincreaseintheannualrevenuefromallgreetingcardsalesfrom1990to1993?
IfAistheinitialamountputintoanaccount,Ristheannualpercentageofinterestwrittenasadecimal,andtheinterestco
IfanamountPistobeinvestedatanannualinterestrateof3.5percent,compoundedquarterly,whatshouldbethevalueofP
Asequenceissymmetricallydistributedarounditsarithmeticmeanm,andthenumbersthatfallinthestandarddeviationdcoun
随机试题
简述电子商务网站规划的内容。
火与热的主要区别是
周某从迅达汽车贸易公司购买了1辆车,约定周某试用10天,试用期满后3天内办理登记过户手续。试用期间,周某违反交通规则将李某撞成重伤。现周某困难,无力赔偿。关于李某受到的损害,下列哪一表述是正确的?(2011年卷三第6题)
某单层厂房,吊车轨面标高16m,吊车梁底面标高14m,柱12m,纵向设置双片十字交叉形柱间支撑,中列柱为阶形,下阶为格构式,上阶为工形实腹式,下阶柱肢中距3m,节间尺寸亦为3m,如图所示,采用Q235-B钢,E4303型焊条。
外币存款业务和人民币存款业务的共同点有()。
()是将在一年或在超过一年的一个营业周期内偿还的债务。
毛泽东指出:“红色政权能够在白色政权包围中发生和坚持下来,并且日益发展壮大”的根本原因是()
设A=(α1,α2……αn),B=(β1β2……βn),AB=(γ1,γ2,…,γn)。记向量组(I)α1,α2……αn,向量组(Ⅱ)β1β2……βn,向量组(Ⅲ)γ1,γ2,…,γn。已知向量组(Ⅲ)线性相关,则有()
软件测试的目的是()。
ManypeopleinvestinthestockmarkethopingtofindthenextMicrosoftandDell.However,Iknow【C1】______personalexperienc
最新回复
(
0
)