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With its clear sky and dry air, Chile's Atacama desert is a place where astronomers look up at the night skies for life on other planets.
智利的阿塔卡马沙漠有着晴朗的天空和干燥的空气，是天文学家仰望夜空寻找其他行星上的生命的地方。
They also study dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be driving the growth of the universe.
他们还研究暗能量。暗能量一种被认为是推动宇宙膨胀的神秘力量。
Soon, they will have a new Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) to search into distant worlds beyond Earth.
不久，他们将会有一个新的巨型麦哲伦望远镜（GMT）来探索地球之外的遥远世界。
The GMT is a $1.8 billion center being built at the Las Campanas observatory.
巨型麦哲伦望远镜耗资18亿美元，正在拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台被建造。
The telescope will be able to see 10 times clearer than the well-known Hubble space telescope.
该望远镜的成像清晰度将是著名的哈勃太空望远镜的10倍。
The GMT is expected to begin operating by 2030.
巨型麦哲伦望远镜预计将于2030年开始运行。
It will compete with the nearby European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope as well as the Thirty Meter Telescope being built in Hawaii.
它将与附近的欧洲南方天文台的极大望远镜以及正在夏威夷建造的30米望远镜竞争。
Leopoldo Infante is the head of the Las Campanas observatory.
利奥波多·因凡特是拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台的负责人。
He said the new generation of giant telescopes is being developed to search for life on other planets and look for the origin of dark energy.
他说，新一代巨型望远镜正在开发中，以寻找其他行星上的生命和寻找暗能量的来源。
"It's a race by these three groups for who makes it first and who makes the first discovery," he said.
他说：“这是这三组望远镜之间的一场竞赛，看谁最先成功，最先发现。”
Infante said the new large telescope would be able to find molecules in the atmosphere of faraway planets.
因凡特说，新的大型望远镜将能够在遥远行星的大气层中发现分子。
"And whoever detects life on another planet will win the Nobel Prize, I assure you."
“我敢保证，无论谁在另一个星球上探测到生命，他都会获得诺贝尔奖。”
The other prize is studying dark energy which makes up most of the universe.
另一个奖项则颁发给研究构成宇宙大部分的暗能量的人。
Infante said dark energy is causing the universe to expand but scientists do not understand its origin.
因凡特说，暗能量正在导致宇宙膨胀，但科学家们还不知道它的来源。
Infante said the GMT will help astronomers study and understand "what that energy is and where that energy comes from."
因凡特说，巨型麦哲伦望远镜将帮助天文学家研究和理解“暗能量是什么以及暗能量是从何而来的”。
I'm Dan Novak.
丹·诺瓦克为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
