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科学美国人60秒 SSS Winking Star Six Centuries Ago Explained

时间:2017-09-07 01:29:01

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(单词翻译)

Winking1 Star Six Centuries Ago Explained

揭秘600年前那颗一闪即逝的恒星

On March 11, 1437, Korean royal astronomers3 noticed something out of the ordinary in the night sky. "There was a brand new star they'd never seen before, between two of the well-known stars in the tail of Scorpius. That star was only seen for 14 days and then it disappeared and was never seen again."

1437年3月11日,朝鲜皇家天文学家夜观星象,发现了一种非比寻常的现象。“他们在天蝎座其中两个知名恒星之间,发现了一个以前从未见过的全新的恒星。”那颗恒星只出现了14天便消失了,再也没有出现过。

\Michael Shara, an astronomer2 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He’s spent more than two decades puzzling over this star that winked4 at astronomers nearly 600 years ago. "It's a many-sided jigsaw5 puzzle and I won't say we've filled in all the pieces, but at least I think we've got the corners and the boundaries pretty much in place now."

迈克尔·萨拉是纽约美国自然历史博物馆的一名天文学家。他花了二十多年的时间,苦思研究这颗曾于600年前在天文学家眼前闪现过的恒星。“它就像个多面拼图游戏,我不敢说我们已经填充了所有的板块,但至少各个角落、边界已经拼好了,可以说目前已经拼得非常到位了。”

What he and his colleagues have determined6 is this: the "disappearing star" the Korean astronomers spotted7 was in fact a massive explosion produced by a special type of binary8 star system, known as a 'cataclysmic variable.'

他和他的同事们已经确定了一点:那颗朝鲜天文学家发现的“消失的恒星”,实际上是由一种被称为“激变变星”的特殊的双星系统产生的巨大爆炸。

The system consists of two stars. One's a white dwarf9—“the corpse10 of something that used to be a star in the distant past." And its companion is a hydrogen-rich star, pretty much like our sun.

该系统由两颗恒星组成。一颗是白矮星——“远古时期某个曾是恒星的物体的尸体”。另一颗是与我们的太阳非常像的一颗富含氢的恒星。

"The white dwarf's gravity is so powerful it can suck hydrogen off of that companion. So in essence it's cannibalizing its companion hydrogen-rich star. That hydrogen flows into a ring around the white dwarf, and then every few months or few years the ring builds up, becomes more and more massive and collapses11 down onto the white dwarf. That gives rise to dwarf nova eruptions12."

“那颗白矮星的引力强大到会吸取另一颗恒星体上的氢。所以本质上来说,它在吞食那一颗富含氢的恒星伙伴。那些被吸取的氢围绕白矮星形成一个环带,然后每隔几个月或几年的时间,环带就会聚集变强,变得越来越大,直至聚落到白矮星上,并因此导致矮新星爆发。”

But every couple of hundred thousand years, those dwarf eruptions are punctuated13 by much bigger bangs, as more and more hydrogen builds up. "You blow up as a gigantic hydrogen bomb, that's a thermonuclear event. And that classical nova is what happened in 1437 to this star."

但每隔几十万年,随着聚集的氢越来越多,这些矮星爆发就会被更强大的冲击打断。“它就像一个巨大的氢弹爆炸,是一种热核爆炸事件。而1437年发生在该恒星体上的就是那个经典新星。”

Shara's team located the cosmic remains14 of that huge explosion. And they were able to determine that the nova of 1437—and smaller dwarf nova eruptions photographed in that same square of sky in the 1930s and 40s—were actually hiccups15 of light from the same binary star… in different phases of its life cycle.

萨拉的团队找到了那次巨大爆炸事件的宇宙残骸。而且他们能够确定,1437的新星和上世纪三四十年代天文学家在同一片天空中拍下的较小的矮新星爆发,竟然同属于同一个双子星在不同生命阶段的光逆……

"And hence dwarf novae and old novae are the same things. Just like butterflies and caterpillars16 are the same things." The study is in the journal Nature.

“因此,就像蝴蝶和毛毛虫是同一种东西一样,矮新星和老新星也是同一种东西。”这项研究发表在《自然》杂志上。

Shara says 50 of these nova-like fireworks explode every year in the Milky17 Way…illuminating the galaxy18, and perhaps, our understanding of the evolution of stars.

萨拉表示,每年银河都有50多个类新星爆发烟火照亮银河系……或许,它也在照亮我们对恒星进化史的认知。


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1 winking b599b2f7a74d5974507152324c7b8979     
n.瞬眼,目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • Anyone can do it; it's as easy as winking. 这谁都办得到,简直易如反掌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The stars were winking in the clear sky. 星星在明亮的天空中闪烁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 astronomer DOEyh     
n.天文学家
参考例句:
  • A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
  • He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。
3 astronomers 569155f16962e086bd7de77deceefcbd     
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪,为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 winked af6ada503978fa80fce7e5d109333278     
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼,她便知道他的想法和她一样。
  • He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5 jigsaw q3Gxa     
n.缕花锯,竖锯,拼图游戏;vt.用竖锯锯,使互相交错搭接
参考例句:
  • A jigsaw puzzle can keep me absorbed for hours.一副拼图就能让我沉醉几个小时。
  • Tom likes to work on jigsaw puzzles,too.汤姆也喜欢玩拼图游戏。
6 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
7 spotted 7FEyj     
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
参考例句:
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
8 binary jybzWZ     
adj.二,双;二进制的;n.双(体);联星
参考例句:
  • Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
  • Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试,把这个数本身变成二进制数。
9 dwarf EkjzH     
n.矮子,侏儒,矮小的动植物;vt.使…矮小
参考例句:
  • The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
  • The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀,摇摇头。
10 corpse JYiz4     
n.尸体,死尸
参考例句:
  • What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
  • The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。
11 collapses 9efa410d233b4045491e3d6f683e12ed     
折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 ); 倒塌; 崩溃; (尤指工作劳累后)坐下
参考例句:
  • This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
  • Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台,抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。
12 eruptions ca60b8eba3620efa5cdd7044f6dd0b66     
n.喷发,爆发( eruption的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句
13 punctuated 7bd3039c345abccc3ac40a4e434df484     
v.(在文字中)加标点符号,加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 );不时打断某事物
参考例句:
  • Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
  • The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
15 hiccups 676e0be2b57aa5ea33888ece0384a16f     
n.嗝( hiccup的名词复数 );连续地打嗝;暂时性的小问题;短暂的停顿v.嗝( hiccup的第三人称单数 );连续地打嗝;暂时性的小问题;短暂的停顿
参考例句:
  • I cannot find a rhyme to "hiccups". 我不能找到和hiccups同韵的词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Can we rhyme 'hiccups'with 'pick-ups'? 我们能把‘hiccups’同‘pick-ups’放在一起押韵吗? 来自辞典例句
16 caterpillars 7673bc2d84c4c7cba4a0eaec866310f4     
n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 );履带
参考例句:
  • Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
  • Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句
17 milky JD0xg     
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
参考例句:
  • Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
  • I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
18 galaxy OhoxB     
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
参考例句:
  • The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
  • The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

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