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科学美国人60秒 SSS 中子星相撞后会发生什么

时间:2019-09-29 08:12:38

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

Last year, astronomers1 observed two neutron2 stars collide—a crash transmitted in gravitational waves to detectors4 here on Earth. Represented in sound, you can hear a small upwards5 sweep in frequency, in the data, if you listen closely.

去年,天文学家观测到两颗中子星相撞——地球上的探测器接收到了撞击产生的引力波。转化为声音后,如果仔细听,可以听到数据频率小幅上扬。

(CLIP: LIGO neutron star merger6)

(音频片段:激光干涉引力波天文台捕捉到的中子星合并引力波转化成的声音)

Several seconds later, the first waves of electromagnetic radiation arrived here on Earth — the first time a collision has been detected by both light and gravitational waves. And it's in studying the electromagnetic echoes of the collision that astrophysicists have gotten a far better glimpse of what really happened after those binary7 neutron stars merged8, 130 million light-years away.

几秒钟后,第一波电磁辐射到达地球,这是光和引力波首次同时探测到星体相撞。正是在研究相撞产生的电磁回声时,天体物理学家得以更好地了解,在1.3亿光年之外这些中子星合并之后究竟发生了什么。

"Oh yeah, absolutely, so it gives us an understanding of basically all the nitty gritty of what's going on after the merger takes place." Kunal Mooley, an astrophysicist at Caltech.

“哦,绝对没错,这让我们了解了合并之后发生的几乎所有细节。”加州理工学院的天体物理学库纳尔·穆利说到。

First, he says, the stars collided (CLIP: Ligo merger)... creating a massive, black hole–like object, which started sucking up the cloud of neutron-rich cosmic debris9 left over from the crash. But its appetite was limited.

他说,首先这两颗中子星相撞(音频片段:激光干涉引力波天文台捕捉到的合并声音),产生了一种巨大的、像黑洞一样的物体,这个物体开始吸收撞击后留下的富含中子的宇宙碎片云团。但是它的胃口有限。

"It cannot eat all of it, so some bit of it basically escapes." Those escaping leftovers10 spewed outward into space, as a powerful jet. But along the way, Mooley says, the jet appears to have interacted with that cloud of neutron-rich material, blowing up a sort of cocoon11 within the debris floating around the collision. Until finally, the jet burst out and slammed into interstellar space... releasing yet more radiation we could detect here on Earth.

“它不能吃掉所有碎片,因此其中一些碎片会漏掉。”这些逃出来的剩余物向外喷射到太空,就像一股强大的喷射气流一样。穆利表示,但在此过程中,喷射物似乎与富含中子物质的云团相互作用,在碰撞处周围漂浮的碎片中炸出一种茧状结构。直到最后,喷射气流突出重围并撞向星际空间,释放出更多我们在地球上可以探测到的辐射。

The full play by play is in the journal Nature.

完整的详细报告发表在《自然》期刊上。

In this case, Mooley says, we were lucky to spot the event—the narrow jet was pointed12 close to Earth. But these collisions could be happening all the time, just that their jets point in directions hard to detect from our planet. But maybe, he says, astronomers can now look for those 'cocoons13' as an alternate way to study these colossal14 bits of cosmic wreckage15.

穆利说,在这种情况下,我们很幸运地发现了这个事件——狭窄的射流冲向地球附近。但是这些碰撞可能一直在发生,只是它们的射流喷向了地球难以探测到的方向。但穆利表示,也许天文学家现在可以寻找这些“茧”,作为研究这些巨大的宇宙残骸的另一种方式。

And while gravitational waves are exciting, "there's a lot more to be learned through electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves than that is to be learned through gravitational waves alone." When the LIGO gravitational wave detector3 fires up, early next year, he says, he'll be watching, waiting, perhaps, for his next study subject.

虽然引力波令人兴奋,但是“联合电磁波和引力波可以学到的东西,比仅仅通过引力波学到的要多得多。”他说,当激光干涉引力波天文台的引力波探测器明年初启动之后,他将会一直观察和等待,或许会等来他的下一个研究课题。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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》
2 neutron neutron     
n.中子
参考例句:
  • Neutron is neutral and slightly heavier than the proton.中子是中性的,比质子略重。
  • Based on the neutron energy,the value of weighting factor was given.根据中子能量给出了相应的辐射权重因子的数值。
3 detector svnxk     
n.发觉者,探测器
参考例句:
  • The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
  • Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。
4 detectors bff80b364ed19e1821aa038fae38df83     
探测器( detector的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
  • This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者,这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
5 upwards lj5wR     
adv.向上,在更高处...以上
参考例句:
  • The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
  • The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。
6 merger vCJxG     
n.企业合并,并吞
参考例句:
  • Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
  • Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。
7 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。
8 merged d33b2d33223e1272c8bbe02180876e6f     
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中
参考例句:
  • Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
  • The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。
9 debris debris     
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片
参考例句:
  • After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
  • Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上,导致蛀牙。
10 leftovers AprzGJ     
n.剩余物,残留物,剩菜
参考例句:
  • He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
  • She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。
11 cocoon 2nQyB     
n.茧
参考例句:
  • A cocoon is a kind of silk covering made by an insect.蚕茧是由昆虫制造的一种由丝组成的外包层。
  • The beautiful butterfly emerged from the cocoon.美丽的蝴蝶自茧中出现。
12 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
13 cocoons 5dceb05da0afff0d0dbbf29f10373b59     
n.茧,蚕茧( cocoon的名词复数 )v.茧,蚕茧( cocoon的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The silkworms have gone into the bushes to spin their cocoons. 蚕上山了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • In two more days the " little darlings" would spin their cocoons. 再得两天,“宝宝”可以上山。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕
14 colossal sbwyJ     
adj.异常的,庞大的
参考例句:
  • There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
  • Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。
15 wreckage nMhzF     
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏
参考例句:
  • They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
  • New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

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