The planet Uranus has clouds made up of hydrogen sulphide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their unpleasant smell.

　　行星天王星的云层由硫化氢组成，就是这种气体发出臭鸡蛋一样难闻的气味。

　　The possibility of this gas being present in the atmosphere of the seventh planet had long been debated, but has now been confirmed for the first time by observations at a telescope on Hawaii.

　　这种气体存在于第七颗行星的大气中的可能性一直以来备受争议，但现在已经通过夏威夷望远镜观测首次得到证实。

　　The malodorous gas was detected high above the giant planet’s cloud tops.

　　恶臭气体在巨型行星的云顶上方被探测到。

　　The findings could shed important new light on how the outer planets formed.

　　这些发现可能会为外行星形成提供重要的新线索。

　　A team of researchers have published their results in the journal Nature Astronomy.

　　一组研究人员在《自然天文学》期刊上发表了他们的研究成果。

　　Despite previous observations by ground telescopes and the Voyager 2 spacecraft, the composition of Uranus’ atmosphere had remained unclear.

　　尽管以前通过地面望远镜和旅行者2号航天器进行了观测，但对天王星大气层的构成仍不清楚。

　　Scientists have long wondered whether hydrogen sulphide (H?S) or ammonia (NH?) dominate the ice giant’s cloud deck, but have lacked definitive evidence either way.

　　长期以来，科学家们一直在想，硫化氢(H 2 S)或氨(NH 3)是否是覆盖在这颗巨大的冰块构成的行星的云层中的主要气体，但缺乏明确的证据。

　　The data were obtained with the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) instrument on the Gemini North telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea summit.

　　这些数据是通过在夏威夷莫纳克亚山顶的双子星北望远镜上的近红外积分场光谱仪获得的。

　　The spectroscopic measurements break infrared light from Uranus into its component wavelengths. Bands in the resulting spectrum known as absorption lines, where the gas absorbs infrared light coming from the Sun, allowed the scientists to "fingerprint" components of Uranus’ atmosphere.

　　光谱测量将来自天王星的红外光分解为其分量波长。由此产生的光谱中的波段称为吸收线，气体吸收来自太阳的红外光，使得科学家能够通过“指纹”确认天王星大气层的组成。

　　"Now, thanks to improved hydrogen sulphide absorption-line data and the wonderful Gemini spectra, we have the fingerprint which caught the culprit," said co-author Patrick Irwin, from the University of Oxford.

　　“现在，由于改进了硫化氢吸收线数据和棒极了的双子座光谱，我们拥有了指纹，找到了这个罪魁祸首，”来自牛津大学的共同作者Patrick Irwin说。