Astronomers to check interstellar body forsigns of alien technology
天文學(xué)家將在星際天體上探尋外星科技的痕跡
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Green Bank telescope in West Virginia willlisten for radio signals from ‘Oumuamua, an object from another solar system
位于西弗吉尼亞的綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡將收聽“奧陌陌”——一顆來自其他恒星系的天體——的無線電信號
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龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.ltaaa.com ‘Oumuamua. Scientists will monitorthe asteroid to see if it is transmitting anything. Photograph: ESO/M.Kornmesser/PA
“奧陌陌”。科學(xué)家將監(jiān)視這顆天體，以便確認(rèn)它是否向外傳輸任何信號。圖片：ESO/M.Kornmesser/PA
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龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.ltaaa.comAstronomers are to use one of the world’slargest telescopes to check a
mysteriousobject that is speeding through the solar system for signs of alientechnology.
天文學(xué)家將使用世界上最大望遠(yuǎn)鏡之一的綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡觀察一顆快速穿過太陽系的神秘天體，以確認(rèn)其是否有任何外星科技的痕跡。
The Green Bank telescope in West Virginiawill listen for radio signals being broadcast from a
cigar-shapedbody which was first spotted in the solar system in October. The bodyarrived from interstellar space and reached a peak speed of 196,000 mph as itswept past the sun.
位于西弗吉尼亞的綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡將收聽這個雪茄形的天體發(fā)出的無線電信號。這顆天體于今年十月被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這顆天體從其他恒星系飛抵太陽系，當(dāng)它飛過太陽時，其最高速度達(dá)到了19.6萬英里/小時。
Scientists on the Breakthrough Listenproject, which searches for evidence of alien civilisations, said the GreenBank telescope would monitor the object, named ‘Oumuamua, from Wednesday. Thefirst phase of observations is expected to last 10 hours and will tune in tofour different radio transmission bands.
突破探聽計劃的科學(xué)家們一直在尋找外星文明的證據(jù)。他們說綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡將從本周三開始監(jiān)聽這顆叫“奧陌陌”的天體。第一階段的監(jiān)聽有望持續(xù)十個小時，并收聽四個不同的無線電傳輸頻道。
“Most likely it is of natural origin, butbecause it is so peculiar, we would like to check if it has any sign ofartificial origin, such as radio emissions,” said Avi Loeb, professor ofastronomy at Harvard University and an adviser to the Breakthrough Listenproject. “If we do detect a signal that appears artificial in origin, we’llknow immediately.”
“這顆天體很有可能是自然形成的，但它太奇怪了，我們想檢查一下它是否有任何人工痕跡，比如發(fā)射無線電，”艾維·魯伯，哈佛大學(xué)的天文學(xué)教授，同時也是突破監(jiān)聽計劃的一名顧問?！叭绻覀儥z測到任何人工痕跡，我們馬上就會知道。”
The interstellar body, the first to be seenin the solar system, was initially spotted by researchers on the Pan-Starrstelescope, which the University of Hawaii uses to scan the heavens for killerasteroids. Named after the Hawaiian word for “messenger”, the body was pickedup as it swept past Earth at 85 times the distance to the moon.
這顆在太陽系首次被觀測到的星際天體是由泛星計劃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的研究者們發(fā)現(xiàn)的。這臺望遠(yuǎn)鏡是夏威夷大學(xué)用以尋找太空中對地球有威脅的小行星的。這顆天體被用夏威夷語言命名為“信使”，它在距地球約85倍地月距離飛過時被發(fā)現(xiàn)。
While many astronomers believe the objectis an interstellar asteroid, its elongated shape is unlike anything seen in theasteroid belt in our own solar system. Early observations of ‘Oumuamua showthat it is about 400m long but only one tenth as wide. “It’s curious that thefirst object we see from outside the solar system looks like that,” said Loeb.
雖然很多天文學(xué)家都相信這個天體是一顆跨星際小行星，其細(xì)長的形狀跟我們在太陽系小行星帶中觀察到的小行星的形狀都截然不同。對“奧陌陌”的早期觀察發(fā)現(xiàn)其長度約為400米，而寬度僅為長度的十分之一?！昂芷婀?，我們觀測到的第一顆太陽系外天體是這個樣子的，”魯伯說。
The body is now about twice as far fromEarth as the sun, but from that distance the Green Bank telescope can stilldetect transmissions as weak as those produced by a mobile phone. Loeb saidthat while he did not expect Green Bank to detect an alien transmission, it wasworth checking.
現(xiàn)在這顆天體距地球的距離大約是兩倍日地距離，但即使在這個距離上綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡也能檢測到一個手機(jī)發(fā)出的無線電信號。魯伯說盡管他并不期望綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡能探測到任何外星信號，但仍然值得嘗試一下。
“The chances that we’ll hear something arevery small, but if we do, we will report it immediately and then try tointerpret it,” Loeb said. “It would be prudent just to check and look forsignals. Even if we find an artefact that was left over and there are no signsof life on it, that would be the greatest thrill I can imagine having in mylifetime. It’s really one of the fundamental questions in science, perhaps themost fundamental: are we alone?”
“我們能收聽到什么東西的機(jī)會微乎其微，但如果我們真的聽到了，我們會馬上報告并試著翻譯這個信號，”魯伯說?！拔覀儠苄⌒牡貦z查這個天體并尋找信號。即使我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這是一個人工制造物體的殘骸，并且沒有任何生命跡象存在，這也會變成我生命中能想象到的最令人興奮的事。這是一個基本的科學(xué)問題，或許是最基本的：我們是否是宇宙中唯一的文明？”
The
BreakthroughListen projectwas launched at the Royal Society in London in 2015,when the Cambridge cosmologist Stephen Hawking announced the effort to listenfor signs of life on planets that orbit the million stars closest to Earth. The$100m project is funded by the internet billionaire
YuriMilner, and has secured time on telescopes in the US and Australia tosearch for alien civilisations.
突破探聽計劃發(fā)起于2015年在倫敦的皇家學(xué)會，劍橋大學(xué)的宇宙論學(xué)者斯蒂芬·霍金宣布該計劃將尋找距地球最近的上百萬顆恒星的行星上的生命信號。這個一百萬美元的項目由互聯(lián)網(wǎng)富豪尤里·米爾納資助，并預(yù)訂了美國和澳大利亞的望遠(yuǎn)鏡使用時間以尋找外星文明。
Astronomers do not have good ideas abouthow such elongated objects could be created in asteroid belts. By studying‘Oumuamua more closely, they hope to learn how they might form and whetherthere are others in the solar system that have so far gone unnoticed. “If it’sof natural origin, there should be many more of them,” Loeb said.
天文學(xué)家并不清楚為什么小行星帶會產(chǎn)生這么個細(xì)長的形狀的天體。隨著對“奧陌陌”的深入研究，他們希望能夠弄清楚該形狀產(chǎn)生的原因，并進(jìn)一步了解在那個到目前為止都沒有被注意到的恒星系中是否還有其他這種形狀的天體?！叭绻亲匀划a(chǎn)生的，那應(yīng)該還有更多這樣的小行星，”魯伯說。
Previous work on the body found it to beextremely dark red, absorbing about 96% of light that falls on it. The colouris associated with carbon-based molecules on comets and asteroids.
對這顆天體之前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)其顏色為極暗的紅色，大概吸收96%輻射到其上的可見光。這種顏色跟彗星和小行星上的碳基分子有關(guān)。
If, as expected, the telescope fails topick up any intelligent broadcasts from ‘Oumuamua, the observations are stillexpected to aid scientists in understanding the body. Other signals detected bythe Green Bank telescope could shed light on whether the object is shrouded ina comet-like cloud of gas, and reveal whether it is carrying water and icethrough the solar system.
如果，和人們猜想的一樣，望遠(yuǎn)鏡沒有收聽到任何來自“奧陌陌”的智慧生命信號，這個觀察仍將有望幫助科學(xué)家了解這個天體。綠岸望遠(yuǎn)鏡探聽到的其他信號將弄清楚這個天體是否被籠罩在類似彗星云一樣的氣體中，以及它是否帶著水和冰穿越太陽系。
