评论
打印
I don't want to alarm you, but we might be sitting near the largest bomb in the galaxy.
不是想吓唬大家，但我们可能真地挨着银河系里最大的一颗炸弹。
It's a star just 8000 light-years away, and when it explodes, it could release more energy in seconds than the Sun will emit in its entire lifetime.
这颗炸弹是一颗恒星，离我们只有8000光年的距离。一旦它爆炸，就会在顷刻间释放出比太阳整个生命周期还要多的能量。
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be pointed at us. We think.
所幸，爆炸方向不是冲着地球的。只是我们的拙见。
An international team of researchers announced this star's discovery on Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
某国际研究小组于周一在《自然天文学》中宣布发现了这颗恒星。
It's part of a binary star system surrounded by a cloud of dust, which scientists are calling Apep after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos.
它是双子星系统的一部分，周围是都是尘云。科学家称它为阿贝普，这是根据同名的埃及混乱之神命名的。
But the system's official name is.....honestly, it's the most complicated name I've ever seen.
但这个双子星体系有一个官方的名字，说实话，是我见过的最复杂的名字。
So thanks for the snappier name, astronomers!
所以，真是要感谢天文学家了！
Apep as a whole is pretty interesting, but it's the brighter of the two stars that's the big deal.
阿贝普整体都很有意思——在双子星中，它更亮一些，这一点很重要。
It has astronomers excited because when it explodes, it may release what's called a gamma-ray burst.
这让天文学家感到兴奋，因为它爆炸的时候，可能会释放出伽马射线暴。
Gamma rays are the most energetic form of light, and gamma ray bursts are some of the universe's most powerful events.
伽马射线是光最有能量的形式。而伽马射线暴是宇宙最有力量的事件之一。
They've been observed in other galaxies since the 1960s, but never here in the Milky Way.
自上世纪60年代以来，伽马射线暴在其他多个星系也有观测到过，但从未在银河系里观测到过。
Bursts seem to happen when large stars die under certain conditions, and this new star in Apep seems to fit the bill.
恒星消亡的时候，射线暴似乎会在特定情况下发生。而这颗新发现的阿贝普恒星似乎
This object is an example of a Wolf–Rayet star.
阿贝普是沃尔夫-拉叶星的一个实例。
They occur when certain massive stars, called O-types, run out of hydrogen fuel and begin to burn heavier elements.
沃尔夫-拉叶星会在某些特大质量恒星（O型星）用尽了氢燃料，已经开始燃用质量更大的元素
Those elements release more energy, which takes the form of a wind that blows away the star's outer layers.
这些质量更大的元素会释放出更多的能量，以风的形式出现，吹走恒星的外层。
Then, the object's exposed core is left behind.
然后会剩下其暴置于外部的内核。
The star in the Apep system has winds blowing at some 12 million kilometers per hour, or about 1% the speed of light.
阿贝普系统中的恒星风速达1200万千米/小时，大约是光速的1%。
But what's unusual is that the dust surrounding the star is moving more slowly. Almost ten times slower.
但不同寻常之处在于——阿贝普恒星附近的尘埃移速非常之慢，是阿贝普速度的近1/10。
Usually, the two move at about the same speed because the wind pushes the dust along too.
通常情况下，两者速度是大致相同的，因为风会推动尘埃一同移动。
In the paper, the authors consider a bunch of reasons why this might be happening in the Apep system, but only one really makes sense.
本文作者认为有几个原因导致阿贝普体系发生这样的现象，但只有一个原因是真正说得通的。
If the star is spinning at nearly the speed necessary to break it apart and is interacting with winds from a second, slower star, an uneven wind pattern could occur.
如果阿贝普的转速达到了分裂开来的临界值，并且第二颗转速更低的恒星能跟风之间产生互动，那么就会产生一种不均衡的风场类型。
This could explain the dust's unusual motion.
这就能解释尘埃不同寻常的移动速度了。
And that rapid rotation is also the condition needed to form a gamma-ray burst when this thing finally explodes.
而这种快速旋转也是在该恒星爆炸时形成伽马射线暴的必要条件。
Thankfully, when that happens, it probably won't affect us.
好在就算出现这种情况也不会影响地球上的我们。
From what scientists can tell, these bursts tend to shoot out along a star's rotational axis, and this star is not pointed our way.
根据科学家目前所知，这些射线暴会沿着恒星的转轴射出，而这颗恒星的射出方向并不是指向地球的。
If it was, it's hard to know for sure what would happen, but it probably wouldn't be great.
如果真地指向地球，后果不堪设想，可能会很严重。
The gamma rays would likely destroy much of the ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere, which protects us from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet light.
那样的话，伽马射线有可能会破坏地球上层大气的大部分区域，而上层大气可以保护我们不受太阳有害紫外线的影响。
Without that protection, DNA could mutate much more often, which wouldn't be good for things like cancer rates.
没有了这层保护，我们的DNA发生变异的频率会高，这有可能导致致癌率升高等问题。
So let's just say we're glad Apep is pointed the wrong way.
所以对于阿贝普射线的方向不是朝向地球这件事，我们还是要感到高兴的。
It's amazing that we can be effected by something eight thousand light years away!
所以，离我们大概只有8000光年的物体竟然无法影响到我们，这实在让人震惊。
But in even happier news, we're about to get a new spacecraft on Mars!
更让人开心的是，我们将有新的宇宙飞船在火星运作了。
Six and a half months after launching, NASA's InSight lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet Monday, November 26th.
在发射升空六个半月后，美国宇航局的洞察号探测器将于11月26日（周一）在火星着陆。
If all goes well, it will land on Elysium Planitia, which is, wait for it, possibly the most boring place on Mars.
如果一切进展顺利，洞察号将在埃律西昂平原着陆，这大概是火星上最无聊的区域之一了。
But before you get your pitchforks out and start like, hunting NASA people, there's a really good reason why they sent an $800 million dollar lander to one of the solar system's least interesting places.
但这次任务并不是欣赏草原的壮美或者寻找其他人类。将这颗价值8亿美元的探测发往太阳系里最无趣的地方之一是有充分理由的。
InSight's mission is to study the interior of Mars, so it doesn't really matter what's going on at the surface.
它的任务是研究火星内部，所以火星表面究竟如何并不是本次任务的关注点。
Therefore, scientists and engineers chose a place to land where all the non-science stuff would be as simple as possible.
因此，科学家和工程师们选择了一个非科学物质尽可能简单的地方。
InSight will land near the equator, where there's plenty of solar power, at a spot that's level and debris-free.
洞察号将在赤道附近着陆，因为那里有充足的太阳能，地势较平，没有残骸。
The site is also low in elevation, which will give the spacecraft plenty of time to slow down during its descent, and NASA thinks the soil is soft enough to make drilling easy.
这个地方的海拔也很低，这样该探测器就有充足的时间可以在降落期间进行减速。美国宇航局还认为，该地的土壤十分松软，钻孔也比较方便。
InSight will enter the atmosphere around 3 PM Eastern Time and use its combination of a heat shield and parachute to slow down in the thin Martian air.
洞察号会在东部时间大概下午3点的时候进入大气层，并通过防热罩和降落伞在稀薄的火星空气中实现减速。
Once it's nearly on the surface, twelve small rockets will fire, slowing it down for a gentle, precise landing.
一旦离地表较近的时候，12颗小型火箭就会点火，通过减速来实现缓慢、精准的落地。
Then, the spacecraft will use its two-year mission to carry out two big tasks.
随后，该探测器会在长达2年的时间里完成2项重大任务。
One: it will hammer a probe several meters into the surface to measure the heat flowing out of the planet.
任务1：会在火星表面几米深的地方安装一个探针，以测量地热。
And two: will also use a seismometer to listen for Marsquakes, earthquakes on Mars.
任务2：通过地震仪来了解火星地震（火震）的情况。
Together, these experiments will help scientists understand what's going on inside the planet and how those processes are different than those found on Earth.
这两项任务将帮助科学家了解火星内部的活动情况，以及内部活动与地球有何区别。
Much of InSight's landing system is borrowed from 2007's Phoenix Mars Lander, with one big addition.
洞察号的着陆系统大部分是从2007年凤凰号火星登陆器照搬来的，但有一项不同。
The lander is joined in space by MarCO, a pair of briefcase-sized cubesats that have been traveling alongside InSight since launch.
洞察号在太空里还多了一个马可·库伯卫星，这是一对立方体卫星，自发射以来就一直跟着洞察号。
During the six-minute landing, they'll act as a communication relay, sending critical data back to Earth.
在6分钟的着陆里，它们将上演中继通信，将关键数据发回地球。
If InSight crashes, MarCO will be the main reason we'll know why.
一旦洞察号发生事故，马可·库伯卫星会是主要原因。
But the cubesats' real mission is to prove that such tiny spacecraft can survive interplanetary space and carry out useful tasks.
但马可·库伯卫星的真正任务是证明洞察号这样一颗小小的航天器可以在太阳系内生存并执行有意义的任务。
If they succeed, they could usher in a new era of space exploration that will make the cost of exploring the solar system way lower.
一旦马可·库伯卫星成功完成任务，就开辟了宇宙探索的新时代，人类环行太阳系的成本就会降低。
It's not, like, a giant space bomb or anything, but it is still pretty exciting stuff.
虽然还没达到空间炸弹的等级，但已足以振奋人心了。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space News!
感谢收看本期的《太空科学秀》。
If you want to keep up with the latest discoveries happening in space, like landing on Mars, which I am very excited about, you can go to youtube.com/scishowspace to subscribe.
如果您想了解太空里最近的发现，比如我本人也很感兴趣的着陆火星等，您可以订阅youtube.com/scishowspace。
