人類首次“看到”引力波 終于找到金子的源頭了

On Monday, scientists who won a Nobel Prize for their discovery of gravitational waves announced the first detection of the collision of two neutron stars.

10月16日，因發(fā)現(xiàn)引力波而獲得諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的科學(xué)家團(tuán)隊(duì)宣布，他們首次探測(cè)到了中子星合并。

Astronomers detected the merger from 130 million light-years away, in the galaxy NGC 4993, on the morning of August 17.

天文學(xué)家在8月17日晨間觀測(cè)到的此次合并來(lái)自1.3億光年之外的NGC 4993星系。

The team alerted astronomers all over the world to the event right after it happened, helping them point telescopes directly at the scene of the crash.

在探測(cè)到這一天文事件后，科學(xué)家團(tuán)隊(duì)提醒全球的天文學(xué)家觀測(cè)這一現(xiàn)象，幫助他們把望遠(yuǎn)鏡對(duì)準(zhǔn)合并現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。

The collision created the first observed instance of a single source emitting ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, as well as light, which was released in the form of a two-second gamma ray burst.

通過(guò)這次合并，科學(xué)家首次觀測(cè)到太空中單源發(fā)射的引力波，并觀測(cè)到了以兩秒鐘的伽馬射線暴形式釋放出的可見(jiàn)光。

It is being hailed as the first known instance of multi-messenger astrophysics: one source in the universe emitting two kinds of waves, gravitational and electromagnetic.

這預(yù)示著天體物理學(xué)首次進(jìn)入多信使階段：宇宙中的同一來(lái)源發(fā)射出兩種形式的波，引力波和電磁波。

These images revealed a radioactive soup giving birth to unfathomable amounts of platinum, gold, and silver — not to mention elements like the iodine found in our bodies, the uranium in nuclear weapons, and the bismuth in Pepto-Bismol — while shooting those materials deep into space.

觀測(cè)圖像顯示出了兩個(gè)中子星的放射性碰撞場(chǎng)景，而這也產(chǎn)生了數(shù)量龐大的鉑、金和銀，以及我們身體中的碘、核武器中的鈾、可以減輕腸胃不適的鉍。中子星合并將這些物質(zhì)四散進(jìn)宇宙深處。

The two neutron stars most likely merged to form a black hole, though the tiny bit of neutron star that escaped — and formed new elements — could get recycled into planets like Earth where aliens may eventually dig up the metals as we have.

兩個(gè)中子星最可能合并成一個(gè)黑洞，但合并中四散出的碎塊會(huì)形成新的元素，循環(huán)進(jìn)入類似地球的星體，也許外星人正像我們一樣挖掘這些金屬礦藏。

Gravitational waves were first directly detected two years ago, proving Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, and recently, three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on that first detection. Those gravitational waves were the result of two black holes colliding, and the signal lasted for only a fraction of a second. Because black holes don't emit light, these waves were invisible and only "heard" as thumps.

引力波于兩年前首次被發(fā)現(xiàn)，證實(shí)了愛(ài)因斯坦的廣義相對(duì)論。最近，三位科學(xué)家因首次探測(cè)到引力波被授予諾貝爾物理學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。他們成功探測(cè)到來(lái)自于兩個(gè)黑洞合并的引力波信號(hào)，信號(hào)僅持續(xù)幾毫秒。因?yàn)楹诙床⒉话l(fā)射出光，因此引力波不可見(jiàn)，只能以急速跳動(dòng)的形式被“聽(tīng)到”。

1. For the first time, telescopes and gravitational wave observatories together witnessed the same astronomical event.

這是人類歷史上第一次使用電磁波望遠(yuǎn)鏡和引力波天文臺(tái)同時(shí)觀測(cè)到同一個(gè)天體物理事件。

2. This is the first time gravitational waves from the merger of binary neutron stars have been observed.

這是首次觀測(cè)到雙中子星合并產(chǎn)生出引力波。

3. This observation is the first to definitively identify binary neutron star collisions as a source of short gamma-ray bursts. Theorized for many years, this is the first direct link between those phenomena.

這次觀測(cè)首次為中子星合并可產(chǎn)生伽馬射線短暴給予了確鑿證據(jù)。這一理論已有多年歷史，而此次觀測(cè)首次證實(shí)了這兩種現(xiàn)象之間有直接聯(lián)系。

4. This discovery is the first verification of a "kilonova" explosion, confirming binary neutron star collisions as one source for the universe's heaviest elements, such as gold and uranium.

這次發(fā)現(xiàn)首次證實(shí)了“千新星”爆炸，確認(rèn)了雙中子星合并是宇宙中最重的元素的來(lái)源之一，比如金和鈾。

5. This is the first binary neutron star pair confirmed outside of our own Milky Way galaxy, and this is the closest to Earth that astronomers have seen a gamma ray burst.

這是銀河系外首次得以證實(shí)的一對(duì)中子星，也是天文學(xué)家觀測(cè)到伽馬射線暴距離地球最近的一次。

6. The gravitational wave signals from GW170817 have enabled scientists to measure the expansion rate of the universe in a completely new way.

來(lái)自此次GW170817觀測(cè)的引力波使科學(xué)家可以用全新的方式測(cè)量宇宙的膨脹率。

7. The partnership between LIGO and Italy-based Virgo allowed telescopes to rapidly turn their attention towards the area of sky where the neutron stars collided.

激光干涉引力波天文臺(tái)(LIGO)和意大利的處女座引力波探測(cè)器(Virgo)讓無(wú)數(shù)望遠(yuǎn)鏡迅速調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)方向，對(duì)準(zhǔn)這一片天空，觀測(cè)兩個(gè)中子星合并。

8. This event presents the strongest evidence to date for the detection of a gamma-ray burst off-axis, which means the cone emission from the explosion is not pointed directly at Earth.

此次觀測(cè)為伽馬射線暴軸偏移提供了有史以來(lái)最強(qiáng)有力的證據(jù)，也就是說(shuō)伽馬射線暴產(chǎn)生的錐狀發(fā)射不是直接對(duì)準(zhǔn)地球的。

9. The gravitational waves and light waves arrived within seconds of each other, suggesting they may travel at the same speed and confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein. The difference in detection time is likely a reflection of what happens during the explosion process.

引力波和光波到達(dá)地球的時(shí)間相差只有幾秒鐘，這意味著兩者傳播速度一樣，證實(shí)了愛(ài)因斯坦的猜想。探測(cè)時(shí)間的差異很可能反映出合并過(guò)程中發(fā)生了什么。

10. Only gravitational wave observatories can directly detect unexploded binary neutron stars outside of our local galactic neighborhood, or directly observe the stars pre-collison, albeit only briefly before impact.

只有引力波天文臺(tái)能夠探測(cè)到銀河系外未爆炸的雙中子星，或者直接觀測(cè)合并前的雙中子星，不過(guò)只是在合并或爆炸前很短的時(shí)間內(nèi)。

來(lái)源：CNN、商業(yè)內(nèi)幕網(wǎng)、新華社、科技日?qǐng)?bào) 翻譯&編審：yaning