水星上發現有機物和冰

A radar image of Mercury’s North Polar Region acquired by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is shown superposed on a mosaic of Mercury MESSENGER images of the same area in this NASA handout photo released Nov 29, 2012. Yellow areas denote regions of high radar reflectivity.

圖釋：以上是由波多黎各的阿雷西博天文臺收集的一張水星北部極地地區的雷達圖片。它與2012年11月29日美國宇航局發佈的一張信使號太空船在同一地區收集的加了馬賽克的資料圖片反映的信息重複了。黃色區域表示雷達高反射率地區。

(China Daily) Despite searing daytime temperatures, Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, has ice and frozen organic materials inside permanently shadowed craters in its north pole, NASA scientists said on Thursday.

（中國日報）美國宇航局科學家週四表示，離太陽最近的星球水星，儘管有熾熱的日間溫度，但是在它的北極的永久陰影區的隕石坑中有冰和凝固的有機物質。

Earth-based telescopes have been compiling evidence for ice on Mercury for 20 years, but the finding of organics was a surprise, say researchers with NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, the first probe to orbit Mercury.

第一個探測水星軌道的是美國宇航局的信使號太空飛船，它的研究人員表示，地面望遠鏡已經花了20年的時間收集證據表明水星上有冰，但是發現有機物確實是個意外。

Both ice and organic materials, which are similar to tar or coal, were believed to have been delivered millions of years ago by comets and asteroids crashing into the planet.

冰和有機物質，類似於柏油和煤炭，被認爲是百萬年前由彗星和小行星與水星碰撞時產生的。