简介：
Solar Wind Creates Traces of Lunar Surface Water
太阳风刮出了月表水
A chemical analysis of lunar samples now points to the solar wind being behind the ultrathin dusting of water molecules first detected in 2009 from spacecraft measurements. John Matson reports
2009年的一次飞行器测量发现在月球表面的尘埃中含有微量水分子。而一项对月球样品的化学分析揭示出，这些水分子竟然来源于——太阳风。
撰文/播音 约翰•马特（John Matson）
翻译 王宁
审校 李轩
There’s a tiny bit of water on the surface of the moon.
月球表面有极其微量的水。
The ultrathin dusting of water molecules was first detected in 2009 from spacecraft measurements. So where did the H2O come from? A chemical analysis of lunar samples now points to a likely culprit: the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun.
这些含有微量水分子的尘埃在2009年一次飞行器测量中首次被发现。那么这些水从何而来？一项对月样的化学分析指出了一个可能的来源：太阳风——来自太阳的带电粒子流。
Researchers looked at agglutinates, a type of glassy lunar material brought back by Apollo astronauts. Agglutinates formed when micrometeorites hit the lunar surface and melted a bit of the powdery regolith. Tiny intact grains of soil were preserved within, like insects in amber.
研究人员仔细研究了一块由阿波罗航天员带回来的月球玻璃质感的凝聚物。当微小陨石撞击月球表面时，会熔化一部分粉状风化层，细小而完整的土壤颗粒就会被包裹其中，凝聚物便如此产生，如同琥珀中的昆虫。
Those agglutinates turn out to contain hydroxyl, or OH, a precursor molecule to water. And the OH’s isotopic signature indicates that much of the hydrogen came from the solar wind. Add solar wind hydrogen to moon material that contains oxygen and, voila, water. The research is in the journal Nature Geoscience. [Yang Liu et al., Direct measurement of hydroxyl in the lunar regolith and the origin of lunar surface water]
这些凝聚物被证明含有羟基（化学式为OH），它是水的前体分子。羟基的同位素特征显示其中大部分氢原子都来源于太阳风。将太阳风中的氢加入到含有氧的月样中，瞧，水就生成了。这一研究被发表在了《自然》杂志地球科学板块上。
The researchers note that similar chemistry could be at work on Mercury, large asteroids and other airless bodies that endure the full blast of the solar wind. Meaning that even as the sun bakes those worlds, it delivers a bit of hydration.
研究人员说相似的化学反应可能也会发生在水星、大型小行星以及其他被太阳风猛吹的无大气天体。这意味着，即使被太阳烘烤着，在这些世界中仍然会发生一些水合反应。
（题图来源：NASA）
