矮行星

“黎明号”将花一年时间绕灶神星运行，然后前往矮行星谷神星（Ceres）。

Dawn will spend one year orbiting Vesta , then travel to the dwarf planet Ceres .

在环绕灶神星的轨道运行一年后，“黎明”号将飞向矮行星谷神星（Ceres）。

After a year in orbit around Vesta , Dawn will travel on to the dwarf planet Ceres .

第二年，国际天文学联合会（InternationalAstronomicalUnion）就把冥王星归入名为“矮行星”的一个新类别，因为在该学会看来，一颗名副其实的行星必须能够清空轨道上的其他天体，而冥王星做不到这一点。

The next year , the International Astronomical Union placed Pluto in a new category , " dwarf planet , " because in its view , a full-fledged planet must be the gravitational bully of its orbit , and Pluto was not .

这是目前为止发现的围绕这颗冰雪覆盖的矮行星的最小的卫星。

The moon is the smallest around the icy dwarf planet .

一个是冥王星被命名为矮行星。

One was a decision to name Pluto are a dwarf Planet .

科学家将来可能会发现更多的矮行星。

Scientists will probably find many more dwarf planets .

这对一个质量仅是月球质量6%的矮行星来说已是相当可观。

Not bad for something with only 6 percent the mass of our moon .

1930年，天文学家克莱德汤博在研究夜空照片的时候发现了矮行星冥王星。

In 1930 astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet Pluto while looking at photographs of the night sky .

2005年，他的一项重要发现引导科学家们将冥王星重新归类为矮行星。

In 2005 , he made a key discovery that led scientists to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet .

其实这十分贴切，因为它的确是一颗非常独特的矮行星。

This is actually rather fitting , since Haumea is a rather " gifted " and unique dwarf planet .

太阳系现由八颗“经典行星”和一些矮行星构成。

The solar system is now made up of the eight " classical planets ," together with a number of dwarf planets .

这具飞行器叫新地平线号。这具深空探测器正飞往冥王星去研究这颗矮行星以及它的卫星。

That craft is New Horizons , a deep space probe heading to Pluto to study its moons and the dwarf planet itself .

选择矮行星也有不足：这就是矮行星里的恒星不按照规则的圆形轨道运动，像螺旋星系里的恒星都沿着同一方向运动那样。

The disadvantage : the stars in dwarf galaxies don 't move in tidy circular orbits , traveling in the same direction the way stars in spiral galaxies do .

按计划设定，新视野号飞行探测器会在周二近距离飞掠这颗矮行星，届时将向在地面等待确认飞掠的科学家传回历史16个月所收集到的数据。

The New Horizons spacecraft was set to make its closest approach of the dwarf planet on Tuesday , and while scientists wait for confirmation of that flyby -- and the 16 months worth of data that it will bring 。