“行星獵人下一代凌日搜索計劃（The Planet Hunters Next-Generation Transit Survey）” 正在招募志願者在線參與太空觀測，安坐傢中就能當 “天文學傢”。該項目正在向公眾尋求幫助，查看五年來拍攝到的天空中最亮恒星的數字影像。
Queen’s University is a key partner in the Next-Generation Transit Search, a collaboration between universities in Europe and South America focused on discovering unknown planets.
英國貝爾法斯特女王大學是 “下一代凌日搜索計劃” 的重要合作夥伴，這是歐洲和南美洲一些大學間的合作項目，致力於發現未知的行星。
The team have collected data on the light levels of thousands of stars. They’re looking for the moment when a star gets just slightly dimmer, which may indicate that a planet has temporarily blocked the light, known as a ‘transit‘.
研究小組已經收集瞭成千上萬顆恒星的光照水平數據。他們正在尋找恒星稍微變暗的時刻，這可能表明有一顆行星暫時擋住瞭恒星的光，被稱作 “凌日現象”。
Computers have helped to find most of the relevant transits, but they can’t be 100% accurate. Scientists are calling on volunteers to help sift through data looking for patterns that might just possibly indicate an undiscovered world.
電腦已經幫助人們找到瞭大多數相關的凌日現象，但還做不到百分百準確。科學傢呼籲志願者幫助篩選數據，尋找可能預示有未知世界存在的固定模式。
詞匯表
collaboration 合作項目
unknown 未知的
dimmer 更暗的
blocked 阻擋瞭
transit （天文現象）凌
accurate 準確，精確
sift through 篩選
patterns 模式
undiscovered 未被發現的
閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題。
1. True or false? Computers have accurately found all the relevant transits.
2. What is the Next-Generation Transit Search focused on?
3. What data have the team collected?
4. What is the moment the team are looking for?
答案
1. True or false? Computers have accurately found all the relevant transits.
False. Computers have helped to find most of them, but they can’t be 100% accurate.
2. What is the Next-Generation Transit Search focused on?
It is focused on discovering unknown planets.
3. What data have the team collected?
The team have collected data on the light levels of thousands of stars.
4. What is the moment the team are looking for?
They’re looking for the moment when a star gets just slightly dimmer, which may indicate that a planet has temporarily blocked the light, known as a ‘transit’.
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