A growing number of researchers in the social sciences and the environmental humanities have begun to focus on the wider universe and how it is apprehended by modern cosmology. Today the extraterrestrial has become part of the remit of anthropologists, philosophers, historians, geographers, scholars in science and technology studies, and artistic researchers, among others. And there is an emerging consensus that astronomers and other natural scientists—contrary to a common prejudice—are never simply depicting or describing the cosmos “just as it is.” Their research is always characterized by a specific aesthetic style and by a particular “cosmic imagination,” as some have called it. Scientific knowledge of the universe is based on skilled judgments rather than on direct, unmediated perception. It is science, but it is also an art. This special section focuses on two at first sight contradictory aspects of this cosmic imagination. On the one hand, there is a distinctive move toward viewing the extraterrestrial in familiar terms and comprehending it by means of conceptual frameworks that we, earthlings, are accustomed to. On the other hand, there is a tendency to understand our own planet in unfamiliar terms, especially in astrobiology, where so-called analog sites and “extreme environments” provide clues about alien planets. (Text from authors’ abstract)

中文翻译：

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介绍

越来越多的社会科学和环境人文科学的研究人员开始关注更广阔的宇宙以及现代宇宙论如何理解它。如今，外星人已成为人类学家，哲学家，历史学家，地理学家，科学技术研究学者和艺术研究人员等职权的一部分。越来越多的共识是，天文学家和其他自然科学家与普遍的偏见相反，从来没有简单地“按原样”描述或描述宇宙。正如某些人所说，他们的研究始终以特定的美学风格和特定的“宇宙想象力”为特征。宇宙的科学知识是基于熟练的判断，而不是基于直接的，无中介的感知。这是科学，但它也是一门艺术。这个特殊的部分着眼于这种宇宙想象力的两个乍一看矛盾的方面。一方面，有一个独特的举动，就是以熟悉的方式观看外星人，并通过我们地球人习惯的概念框架来理解它。另一方面，有一种以不熟悉的方式理解我们自己的星球的趋势，特别是在天文生物学中，所谓的模拟站点和“极端环境”提供了有关外星行星的线索。（摘自作者摘要）有一种以不熟悉的方式理解我们自己的星球的趋势，尤其是在天文生物学中，在那里所谓的模拟站点和“极端环境”提供了有关外星行星的线索。（摘自作者摘要）有一种以不熟悉的方式理解我们自己的星球的趋势，尤其是在天文生物学中，在那里所谓的模拟站点和“极端环境”提供了有关外星行星的线索。（摘自作者摘要）