Astronomers may be preparing to announce the discovery of a planet similar to Earth that has been found orbiting another star.

　　航天员们或许准备发表声明，称发现和地球很相似的星球围绕另一个星球转。

　　Nasa is due to hold a news conference on Thursday to reveal the latest discoveries from its Kepler Space Telescope, which has been scouring the skies for planets outside our own solar system。

　　NASA本周四召开一个新闻发布会宣布其开普勒太空望远镜的发现，这个望远镜在我们太阳系外一直在寻找星球。

　　The telescope has discovered more than 1,000 of these so-called exoplanets since it was launched in 2009.

　　该望远镜自2009年试用以来，已经有超过1000个所谓的外星球。

　　In its announcement for the press conference, Nasa suggested it could be about to reveal the discovery of ’another Earth’。

　　在其新闻发布会的声明中，NASA 建议说是时候宣布他们发现“另一星球”的消息了。

　　It said:‘The first exoplanet orbiting another star like our sun was discovered in 1995.’

　　该声明说：他们在1995年第一次发现星球。

　　’Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago。

　　“外星球，特别是和地球差不多的星球，早在21年前就归入了科幻小说的范围”

　　’Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years - another Earth.’

　　“今天，包括今后的成千上万的发现，航天人将会发现很多人多年的梦想—另一个星球”

　　Orbiting around the sun around 93 million miles (150 million km) from Earth, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered 1,028 planets and 4,661 candidate planets during its mission。

　　围绕太阳运转的距离太阳九万三千英里内，开普勒望远镜已经发现1028个星球和4661个疑似星球。

　　It has been searching six specific areas of the sky for minute changes in the brightness of stars that may indicate a planet, or planets, passing in front it。

　　开普勒望远镜在星空中已经搜索了6个特定区域，从星球的亮度上去发现一些微小的变化，来判断他们是不是星球。

　　By watching these fluctuations in brightness, it is possible to work out the size and orbit of a planet in relation to its star。

　　通过观察星球亮度的变化，航天员可以计算出和星星相关的星球的大小和轨道。

　　So far astronomers have discovered eight planets that could be candidates for life using data beamed back by the telescope。

　　目前，航天员利用望远镜得来的光源数据已经发现了可能存在生命迹象的8个星球。

　　Many of those planets in the so-called habitable zone – the area around a star where liquid water might form on a planet’s surface – most are at least 40% larger than Earth。

　　许多这些星球被称为可居住区—在星球的表层，液体水形成了星球的表面—很多星球比地球大40%以上。

　　Last year astronomers announced the telescope had spotted its first Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of another star。

　　去年就有航天员称：望远镜已经在另一个星球的可居住区第一次发现了和地球大小差不多的星球。