VOA科学技术2023 科学家通过新观测结果发现恒星死亡新途径

 

How Stars Die: Scientists Report on New Observations

科学家通过新观测结果发现恒星死亡新途径

Scientists recently observed an extremely powerful explosion coming from an ancient galaxy¹.

科学家们最近观测到一个古老的星系发生了威力巨大的爆炸。

The astronomers³ suspect the gamma ray burst they saw was the result of two neutron⁴ stars crashing into each other. Neutron stars are the remains⁵ of massive stars that have collapsed⁶ into themselves. They are small in size but extremely heavy.

天文学家们怀疑他们看到的伽玛射线暴是两颗中子星相撞的结果。中子星是大质量恒星坍塌后的残骸。它们体积很小，但质量非常大。

The stars are in an area dense⁷ with space objects near a supermassive black hole at the center of their galaxy.

这些恒星位于一个密布空间物体的区域，这里靠近他们星系中心一个超大质量黑洞。

"In order to explain the gamma-ray burst, it has to have been a compact star, so not one like the sun," said study lead writer astronomer² Andrew Levan of Radboud University in The Netherlands. The study appeared in the publication Nature Astronomy.

该研究的主要作者、荷兰拉德布大学的天文学家安德鲁·莱万说：“为了能解释伽玛射线暴，它必须是一颗致密恒星，所以它跟太阳不一样。”这项研究发表在《自然天文学》杂志上。

Scientist Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University in Illinois co-wrote the study.

来自伊利诺伊州西北大学的科学家Wen fai Fong共同撰写了这项研究。

"Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe," she noted⁸.

她指出：“伽玛射线暴是宇宙中最强大的爆炸。”

The researchers said that gravitational forces from the black hole may cause nearby objects to move around a lot, increasing the chance of collision.

研究人员表示，来自黑洞的引力可能会导致附近物体不断移动，从而增加碰撞的机会。

When very massive stars, those more than 10 times larger than the sun, die in explosions, they can become neutron stars or even black holes. Smaller stars like the sun leave behind what are called white dwarves⁹.

当比太阳大10倍以上的超大质量恒星在爆炸中死亡时，它们可能会成为中子星甚至黑洞。像太阳这样较小的恒星会剩下所谓的白矮星。

These new observations show another path to star death.

这些新的观测结果展示了恒星死亡的另一条途径。

In Nature Astronomy, Levan said, "The idea that stars also can die through collisions in extremely dense regions has been around since at least the 1980s. So we've been waiting for 40 years for the signatures to be found observationally."

莱万在《自然天文学》上表示：“恒星也可能在密度极高的区域通过碰撞而死亡的想法至少从20世纪80年代就已经存在了。因此，我们已经等了40年才能在观测上发现这些特征。”

Scientists used the data from different telescopes to study the gamma-ray bursts, which took place over 3 billion light years away. A light year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers.

科学家们使用了不同望远镜的数据来研究发生在30多亿光年外的伽玛射线暴。一光年大约是9.5万亿公里。

Most of the galaxy's stars are billions of years old. Fong wrote: "The galaxy is what we call a ‘quiescent¹⁰' - a galaxy that is not actively¹¹ forming stars at a high rate...."

银河系大多数恒星都有几十亿年的历史。Fong写道：“这个星系就是我们所说的‘静止’星系，也就是一个不再以高速率积极形成恒星的星系……”

Quiescent galaxies¹² have supermassive black holes in their center, where many collisions take place.

静止星系的中心存在超大质量黑洞，在那里会发生许多碰撞。

Levan said: "You certainly wouldn't want a front-row seat to one of these events."

莱万说：“你肯定不想赶上这种碰撞事件。”

1 galaxy   

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。

2 astronomer   

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   

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 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。

5 remains   

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。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 dwarves   

n.矮子( dwarf的名词复数 )；有魔法的小矮人

参考例句：

• Everyone will try to claim it: Men, Dwarves, wizards. 每个种族都会争取它的拥有权：人类，矮人，巫师。 来自电影对白
• Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of Dwarves? 难道你还不了解那个矮人的倔强吗？ 来自电影对白

10 quiescent   

adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that such an extremist organization will remain quiescent for long.这种过激的组织是不太可能长期沉默的。
• Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind.时间和空间上的远距离有一种奇妙的力量，可以使人的心灵平静。

11 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

12 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。