如是說999

2020-02-15

A startling scientific find by space researchers which sounds straight from the plot of the 1990's sci-fi movie"Contact"is the last thing you might expect to read on CNN this week.

太空研究人员的一项惊人的科学发现，听起来直接来自于1990年的科幻电影《接触》的情节，这可能是你最不希望在本周的 CNN 上看到的东西。

"Mysterious radio signals from space have been known to repeat,but for the first time,researchers have noticed a pattern in a series of bursts coming from a single source half a billion light-years from Earth,"the report begins.

"我们知道来自太空的神秘无线电信号会不断重复，但研究人员首次注意到一系列爆发的模式，这些爆发来自距离地球5亿光年的单一来源，"报告开头写道。

The"mystery radio signal"has been recorded as repeating based on a clear discernible pattern according to a new paper by a team of astrophysicists in Canada that pinpointed bursts which are unprecedented,identified as"fast radio burst"—or a short radio emission,with a 16-day cycle.

根据加拿大一组天体物理学家的最新论文，这个"神秘的无线电信号"被记录为基于一个清晰可辨的模式的重复。该论文精确定位了史无前例的爆发，称为"快速无线电爆发"，即短暂的无线电辐射，周期为16天。

"The discovery of a 16.35-day periodicity in a repeating FRB source is an important clue to the nature of this object,"the team of scientists said in the paper.A brief summary of some of the key findings are as follows:

"在一个重复的 FRB 源中发现的16.35天的周期性是了解这个物体本质的重要线索，"科学家小组在论文中说。一些主要调查结果的摘要如下:

Between September 16,2018 and October 30,2019,detected a pattern in bursts occurring every 16.35 days.Over the course of four days,the signal would release a burst or two each hour.Then,it would go silent for another 12 days.

在2018年9月16日至2019年10月30日期间，探测到了每16.35天发生一次的爆发模式。在四天的时间里，信号每小时会释放一到两个脉冲。然后，它又沉默了12天。

…The signal is a known repeating fast radio burst,FRB 180916.J0158+65.Last year,the CHIME/FRB collaboration detected the sources of eight new repeating fast radio bursts,including this signal.The repeating signal was traced to a massive spiral galaxy around 500 million light-years away.

...信号是一个已知的重复快速射电脉冲群，FRB 180916。0158+65.去年，chime/frb 合作探测到了八个新的重复快速无线电脉冲的来源，包括这个信号。这个重复的信号被追踪到大约5亿光年之外的一个巨大的螺旋星系。

The team hopes to eventually trace the origin of the mysterious bursts,which has a variety of possibilities,and has even raised the question of alien life"reaching out"to establish contact.

这个研究小组希望最终能找到这种神秘爆发的起源，这种爆发有各种各样的可能性，甚至提出了外星生命"伸出手来"建立联系的问题。

So could it be aliens seeking to establish contact via hidden messages meant to be deciphered from rational patterns?

那么，会不会是外星人试图通过意在从理性模式中破译的隐藏信息建立联系呢？

The MIT Technology Review's Neel Patel,who first broke the story this week of the research team's latest breakthrough,thinks it highly unlikely:

麻省理工学院《技术评论》(MIT Technology Review)的尼尔•帕特尔(Neel Patel)本周率先披露了该研究团队的最新突破，他认为这种可能性极低:

Wait,is it aliens?Almost certainly not.The signals are a sign of energetic events that are on the extreme scale of the cosmos.Even a highly intelligent species would be very unlikely to produce energies like this.And there is no detectable pattern so far that would suggest there's a sentient hand at play.

等等，是外星人吗？几乎可以肯定不是。这些信号是宇宙极端尺度上的能量事件的标志。即使是高度智能的物种也不太可能产生这样的能量。到目前为止，还没有可以检测到的模式表明有一种有意识的手在起作用。

Patel offers likely scenarios including a celestial body orbiting another object,such as a"low-mass black hole."

帕特尔提供了可能的场景，包括一个天体绕着另一个物体旋转，例如"小质量黑洞"

Some analysts have elsewhere suggested it's the result of a binary system involving two massive stars orbiting each other.And Phys.org described what could be the most mundane theory,that it could be"nothing more than the noise created when two stars collide."

一些分析家认为这是双星系统的结果，双星系统中有两颗大质量恒星互相围绕对方旋转。Phys.org 描述了一个可能是最普通的理论，那就是它可能"只不过是两颗恒星碰撞时产生的噪音"

"Another possibility is that stellar winds might be alternately boosting or blocking signals from a body behind them.Or it could be that the source is a celestial body that is rotating,"the same source offered.

"另一种可能性是，恒星风可能交替地增强或阻断来自它们身后物体的信号。或者可能源是一个正在旋转的天体，"同样的源提供。

Regardless,the breakthrough observation could help future astronomers better map out the universe.

无论如何，这项突破性的观测可以帮助未来的天文学家更好地绘制宇宙地图。

"Understanding fast radio bursts can also help astronomers learn more about the universe itself,"CNN concludes."The more bursts they can trace,the better they may be able to use the signals to map how matter is distributed across the universe."

Cnn 总结说:"了解快速射电爆发还可以帮助天文学家更多地了解宇宙本身。"。"他们能追踪到的爆发越多，就越有可能利用这些信号绘制出物质在宇宙中的分布情况。"

»Source»By Tyler Durden

原文來源：https://eraoflight.com/2020/02/14/mysterious-deep-space-radio-signal-repeats-every-16-days-baffling-scientists/

譯文來源: https://www.pfcchina.org/xinwen/34874.html

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