外星人來了？加拿大發(fā)現(xiàn)15億光年外重復(fù)無線電波
加拿大的一架望遠(yuǎn)鏡捕獲到來自遙遠(yuǎn)星系的神秘信號(hào)，近日天文學(xué)家揭秘了這些信號(hào)的細(xì)節(jié)。
The precise nature and origin of the blasts of radio waves is unknown.
這些快速射電暴的性質(zhì)和來源尚不得而知。
Among the 13 fast radio bursts, known as FRBs, was a very unusual repeating signal, coming from the same source about 1.5 billion light years away.
在這13個(gè)快速射電暴(FRB)中，有一個(gè)電波很不同尋常，它來自15億光年外，并且是重復(fù)電波。
宇宙中有一種快速發(fā)生，輻射能量極高又迅速消失的神秘現(xiàn)象，叫做“快速射電暴”(FRBs)，這種爆發(fā)持續(xù)時(shí)間極短，通常只有幾毫秒，是一種物理起源尚不明確的河外射電束，卻能夠釋放出相當(dāng)于太陽在一整天內(nèi)釋放的能量，以至于可以在數(shù)十億光年之外的距離被觀察到，但它們具體的產(chǎn)生機(jī)制究竟是什么，仍然存在爭論。甚至有人認(rèn)為這是外星人發(fā)出的信號(hào)。
Such an event has only been reported once before, by a different telescope.
此前研究者用不同的望遠(yuǎn)鏡也捕捉到過同樣的電波。
"Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there," said Ingrid Stairs, an astrophysicist from the University of British Columbia (UBC).
“第二次捕捉到重復(fù)電波，意味著我們還可能捕捉到更多，”不列顛哥倫比亞大學(xué)的天體物理學(xué)家英格麗·斯泰爾斯稱。
"And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzles - where they're from and what causes them."
“有了更多重復(fù)電波和更多可供研究的資源，我們也許能夠解開這些宇宙的謎題：這些電波是從何而來，又是什么原因造成的。”
The CHIME observatory, located in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, consists of four 100-metre-long, semi-cylindrical antennas, which scan the entire northern sky each day.
捕捉到這一電波的是加拿大氫強(qiáng)度測(cè)繪實(shí)驗(yàn)射電望遠(yuǎn)鏡。它位于不列顛哥倫比亞省奧卡諾根山谷，由4個(gè)100米長的半圓柱天線組成，每天都會(huì)對(duì)整個(gè)北部天空進(jìn)行掃描。
The telescope only got up and running last year, detecting 13 of the radio bursts almost immediately, including the repeater.
這臺(tái)望遠(yuǎn)鏡于去年啟用，并在啟用后不久就檢測(cè)到13次射電爆，包括這個(gè)重復(fù)電波。
The research has now been published in the journal Nature.
這一研究發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上。
"We have discovered a second repeater and its properties are very similar to the first repeater," said Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University, Canada.
加拿大麥基爾大學(xué)的斯里哈什·滕杜卡爾說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了重復(fù)的電波，它的屬性與上一次發(fā)現(xiàn)的電波非常相似。”
"This tells us more about the properties of repeaters as a population."
“這使我們獲得了更多關(guān)于這些電波整體特性的信息。”
There are a number of theories about what could be causing them.
目前存在多種理論解釋這些宇宙電波的來源。
They include a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field that is spinning very rapidly, two neutron stars merging together, and, among a minority of observers, some form of alien spaceship.
例如，這些電波可能來自一顆具有強(qiáng)磁場(chǎng)的快速旋轉(zhuǎn)的中子星，可能是兩顆中子星合并在了一起等。此外，有少數(shù)觀察者認(rèn)為，這些電波其實(shí)是來自某種外星宇宙飛船。
大家看到這則新聞后，開始熱烈討論宇宙深處神秘信號(hào)到底要不要回應(yīng)?外星人是不是要來找我們了?網(wǎng)友的評(píng)論也是各種戲多：
最后，一起聽聽科學(xué)家都怎么說吧!
