Astronomer Caleb Scharf weighs what ever more exoplanets mean in the search for extraterrestrial life.
凯莱布·沙夫（Caleb Scharf）探讨了外行星对于探索地外生命的重要性。
撰文\播音：史蒂夫·米尔斯基（Steve Mirsky）
翻译：杨枭
审校：郭鑫鹏
Astronomers have catalogued more than 3,500 exoplanets since the first one was found in 1988.
自1988年发现第一颗外行星以来，天文学家现已记载了超过3,500颗外行星。
“Part of the revelation and the revolution that’s going on is that actually planets are incredibly abundant and that means that potential incubators for life are everywhere in the universe.”
“正在进行的探索发现告诉我们，宇宙中存在数量惊人的行星，这意味着宇宙各处都蕴藏着生命的孵化器。”
Columbia University astronomer and Scientific American blogger Caleb Scharf. He was part of a conversation about life in the universe at N.Y.U. on March 22nd. At which he was asked what our new understanding of the abundance of exoplanets out there does to the odds of finding life.
凯莱布·沙夫（Caleb Scharf）是哥伦比亚大学的天文学家，同时也是“科学美国人”的博主。3月22日，他参加了纽约大学（N.Y.U.）关于地外生命的访谈。在访谈上他被问到关于外行星的新认识是否有助于我们发现地外生命。
“What it definitely does is increase the odds of us finding an answer. I think. I think that we can say with some confidence. Because we didn’t know that there was so many planets around other stars 20 years ago…and that also means that plenty of them are pretty nearby to us. So what it definitely alters are the odds on us getting some answers.
“这确实增加了我们找到答案的可能性。我认为……我认为我们可以有一点信心，因为二十年前我们根本不知道其他恒星周围还有这么多行星，其中有很多离我们很近。因此这确实会改变我们获得某些答案的可能性。”
“Because suppose planets were actually very rare. Suppose the solar system was sitting here and then you had to go a thousand light years to the next planetary system. That would be difficult for us if we wanted to study those planets because they’re a long way away. So I’m doing the politician thing of kind of circling around the question here. So it definitely, the abundance of planets improves the odds of us obtaining an answer, which is huge. Don’t underestimate that. What does it mean for the actual probability of there being other life out there and how often it occurs? If I’m completely honest with you—we don’t know.”
“假设行星很稀有。假设身处太阳系的你不得不航行一千光年才能找到另一个行星系统。这样的话，因为距离过长我们将难以研究那些行星。关于这个问题我像政客一样打诨。所以，大量的行星确实可以提高我们获取答案的可能性。不要低估这一点。这对于地外出现生命的实际概率以及发现生命的几率究竟意味着什么呢？说实话——我们不知道。”
You can watch the full 90-minute discussion featuring Scharf, Scientific American’s Lee Billings and Wall Street Journal science writer Robert Lee Hotz at the N.Y.U. Journalism Web site. Just go to and look for the series of Kavli Conversations on Science Communication.
您可以在纽约大学新闻网站观看完整的90分钟讨论，包括沙夫，科学美国人撰稿人李·比林斯（Lee Billings）和华尔街日报科学作家罗伯特·李·霍茨（Robert Lee Hotz）。请直接到网站搜索科学交流Kavli Conversations系列。
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