天文學家設(shè)計AI，來更好地探測神秘的太空信號

天文學家設(shè)計AI，來更好地探測神秘的太空信號

Scientists are using AI to solve the mystery of the radio waves from deepest space which keep slamming into telescopes on Earth.

科學家們正在利用AI來破解來自太空深處無線電波的奧秘，這些無線電波不斷地撞擊地球上的望遠鏡。

The sudden and baffling flashes are known as Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) and until now have been virtually impossible to spot and trace.

這種突然而令人困惑的閃光被稱為快速無線電爆炸(FRB)，到目前為止幾乎不可能被發(fā)現(xiàn)和跟蹤。

They are intense pulses of radio waves that last no longer than the blink of an eye and come from far beyond our Milky Way galaxy.

它們是強烈的無線電波脈沖，持續(xù)時間不超過一眨眼的時間，來自我們銀河系之外的遙遠地方。

NRAO Outreach/T. Jarrett (IPAC/Caltech); B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF)

No one knows what causes the strange bursts, but theories range from highly magnetized neutron stars and supermassive black holes to signs of an advanced civilization.

沒有人知道是什么導致了這種奇怪的爆發(fā)，但是理論上，從強磁化的中子星和超大質(zhì)量黑洞到先進文明的標志都有可能。

Now astronomers are using artificial intelligence to pinpoint the source of the pulses, in the hope of explaining who or what is sending them to Earth.

現(xiàn)在天文學家正利用AI來精確定位脈沖的來源，以期解釋是誰或是什么將脈沖發(fā)送到地球上。

Now Wael Farah, a doctoral student at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, developed a machine-learning system that recognized the signatures of FRBs as they arrive.

現(xiàn)在，WaelFarah，澳大利亞墨爾本斯溫伯恩理工大學的博士生，開發(fā)了一種機器學習系統(tǒng)，可以識別FRBs到達時的簽名。

Farah’s system trained the Molonglo telescope in Canberra to spot FRBs and switch over to its most detailed recording mode, producing the finest records of FRBs yet.

法拉的系統(tǒng)訓練堪培拉的莫龍格羅望遠鏡識別出FRB，并切換到最詳細的記錄模式，產(chǎn)生了迄今為止最好的FRB記錄。

“It is fascinating to discover that a signal that traveled halfway through the universe,” he said. The research was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

他說:“發(fā)現(xiàn)一種信號穿越了半個宇宙，這很令人著迷。”這項研究最近發(fā)表在《皇家天文學會月刊》上。

Many of the intense flashes have traveled billions of light-years across space.

許多強烈的閃光在太空中傳播了數(shù)十億光年。

Some scientists have suggested that the bursts could be from rapidly rotating neuron stars but others think they are messages from aliens.

一些科學家認為這些爆發(fā)可能來自快速旋轉(zhuǎn)的神經(jīng)元恒星，但其他人認為它們是來自外星人的信息。

They have complex, mysterious structures, patterns of peaks and valleys in radio waves that play out in just milliseconds, reports Space.com.

據(jù)Space.com報道，它們有復雜而神秘的結(jié)構(gòu)，無線電波中的波峰和波谷模式，在短短幾毫秒內(nèi)就能顯現(xiàn)出來。

That’s not the sort of signal astronomers expect to come from a simple explosion, or any other events known to scatter spikes of electromagnetic energy across space.

這不是天文學家們所期望的來自簡單爆炸的信號，也不是任何已知的在太空中散射電磁能量的信號。

Ever since the first one was uncovered in 2007, using data recorded in 2001, there’s been an ongoing effort to pin down their source.

自從2007年第一個發(fā)現(xiàn)以來，利用2001年記錄的數(shù)據(jù)，人們一直在努力查明它們的來源。

But FRBs arrive at random times and places and existing human technology and observation methods aren’t well-primed to spot these signals.

但FRB到達的時間和地點都是隨機的，現(xiàn)有的人類技術(shù)和觀測方法，還不能很好地發(fā)現(xiàn)這些信號。

In January, we told how astronomers discovered a set of mysterious radio signals that could have been sent to Earth by a distant alien race.

今年1月，我們講述了天文學家如何發(fā)現(xiàn)一組神秘的無線電信號，這些信號可能是由一個遙遠的外星種族發(fā)送到地球的。

The repeating Fast Radio Burst, only the second ever found, was fired from a spot 1.5 billion light-years from our planet – and experts are baffled as to what created it.

這是迄今為止發(fā)現(xiàn)的第二次重復的快速射電暴，它是從距離地球15億光年的地方發(fā)射的——專家們對它的成因感到困惑。