美联社：冥王星新发现的卫星定名为尼克斯和许德拉

Pluto's newly found moons named Nix, Hydra
冥王星新发现的卫星定名为尼克斯和许德拉
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

LOS ANGELES - Meet the newest kids in the solar system: Nix and Hydra. The pair of moons orbiting Pluto were officially christened last week by the International Astronomical Union, which is in charge of approving celestial names.
美联社洛杉矶电 - 认识一下太阳系新来的两个小兄弟吧，他们的名字叫尼克斯(Nix)和许德拉(Hydra)。上周，国际天文学联合会正式确定了这两颗冥王星的卫星的名字。

Until last year, scientists thought Pluto was accompanied by only one moon, Charon. But the Hubble Space Telescope spotted the two satellites — more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter.
直到去年，科学家还认为冥王星只有一颗卫星卡戎。但是哈勃太空望远镜发现了两颗冥王星的新卫星。这两颗卫星比卡戎远两倍多，也比卡戎暗得多。

The duo had been known by the tongue-twisting names S/2005 P 2 and S/2005 P 1. Earlier this year, the moons' discoverers, led by Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., submitted their choices to the IAU.
这两颗卫星临时命名为S/2005 P2和S/2005 P1。一年前，卫星的发现者，阿兰·斯特恩领导的西南研究院科罗拉多州波德分院的团队将他们的命名递交给了国际天文学联合会。

The names, with roots in Greek mythology, were selected in part because their first letters, "N" and "H," were a tribute to the New Horizons spacecraft, Stern said Wednesday.
斯特恩星期三表示，这两个命名都源于希腊神话，其首字母分别为N和H，是献给新视野号探测器(New Horizons)的礼物。

New Horizons blasted off earlier this year on a nine-year mission to study Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system. Stern is the mission's principal investigator.
新视野好今年早些时候发射升空，开始了其长达9年的冥王星之旅。新视野号将对这颗太阳系里唯一没有被探测过的大行星进行观测。斯特恩是这个项目的主要研究人员。

Nix was originally spelled "Nyx" by Stern's group. Nyx is the Greek goddess of darkness and Hydra is the nine-headed serpent that guarded the underworld. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld.
根据斯特恩团队递交的申请，尼克斯(Nix)最初的拼法是Nyx。尼克斯(Nyx)是希腊的黑暗女神，而许德拉(Hydra)则是看守冥界的九头蛇怪。冥王星是以罗马神话中的冥王Pluto命名的。

But since a near-Earth object was already called Nyx, the IAU decided to tweak the spelling to "Nix" to avoid confusion.
但是由于已经有一个近地天体被命名为Nyx，所以国际天文学联合会决定更换拼法，使用Nix这个名字。

Stern said he wasn't disappointed by the spelling change because the pronunciation and significance of the names were still intact.
斯特恩说，对于拼写的变更，他并不失望，因为发音没有变化，而且名字的象征意义也没有发生变化。

"The joke was that they nixed Nyx," Stern said.
斯特恩说：“他们不用尼克斯。”（英语的谐音笑话，nixed和Nyx发音类似）

This summer, the IAU will debate whether Pluto should remain a planet. The discovery of an icy object slightly larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt last year reinvigorated the argument over whether to demote Pluto or add other planets.
今年夏天，国际天文学联合会将决定是否仍旧把冥王星视为大行星。去年在柯伊柏带发现了一颗比冥王星略大的天体，这引发了是给冥王星降级还是承认新发现的天体是大行星的争论。