沒有人知道附近的超級巨星參宿四發(fā)生了什么

沒有人知道附近的超級巨星參宿四發(fā)生了什么

One of the more interesting astronomy stories that came out at the tail end of 2019 was the bizarre behavior of the nearby star known as Betelgeuse. It sits somewhere between 520 and 650 light-years from Earth, and that’s extremely close in the grand scheme of things, making its behavior of particular interest to us here on Earth.

在2019年年底出現(xiàn)的一個比較有趣的天文學(xué)故事是附近一顆被稱為參宿四的恒星的奇異行為。它位于距離地球520到650光年之間的某個地方，這在整個宇宙中非常接近，這使它的行為在地球上引起了我們特別的興趣。

Months ago, scientists alerted us to the fact that Betelgeuse is getting dimmer. This massive star is currently a red supergiant, and the fact that it appeared to be dimming hinted at a number of possible outcomes, including a possible collapse and supernova explosion. Now, with several more weeks of observations under their belt, researchers have discovered that Betelgeuse isn’t just dimming, it’s dimming in a very bizarre way.

幾個月前，科學(xué)家提醒我們參宿四正在變暗。這顆巨大的恒星目前是一顆紅色的超級巨星，而它似乎正在變暗的事實暗示了一些可能的結(jié)果，包括可能的坍縮和超新星爆炸?，F(xiàn)在，經(jīng)過幾周的觀測，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，參宿四不僅是在變暗，而且是以一種非常奇怪的方式變暗。

As Phil Plait of SYFY Wire reports, high-resolution images captured by the Very Large Telescope reveal that Betelgeuse is indeed dimming … but only part of it is actually changing in brightness. Check it out:

據(jù)SYFY Wire的菲爾·普萊特報道，超大望遠(yuǎn)鏡捕捉到的高分辨率圖像顯示，參宿四確實在變暗，但實際上只有部分亮度在變化。檢查一下:

“The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, has been undergoing unprecedented dimming,” the European Southern Observatory writes. “This stunning image of the star’s surface, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope late last year, is among the first observations to come out of an observing campaign aimed at understanding why the star is becoming fainter. When compared with the image taken in January 2019, it shows how much the star has faded and how its apparent shape has changed.”

歐洲南方天文臺寫道:“獵戶座中的紅巨星參宿四正在經(jīng)歷前所未有的變暗。”這張令人震驚的恒星表面圖像是去年年底由歐洲南方天文臺的超大望遠(yuǎn)鏡上的球體儀器拍攝的，它是一項旨在了解恒星變得越來越暗的觀測活動的首批觀測結(jié)果之一。與2019年1月拍攝的照片相比，它顯示出這顆恒星褪色了多少，以及它的外觀形狀發(fā)生了怎樣的變化。”

Because only part of the star is changing in brightness, its shape appears to be altered, giving it an oblong appearance as opposed to a more uniform circular shape. So, what’s the deal?

因為這顆恒星只有一部分亮度在變化，所以它的形狀似乎發(fā)生了變化，呈現(xiàn)出一種橢圓形，而不是更均勻的圓形。到底是怎么回事?

As Plait points out, nobody can say for certain, at least not yet, but one possibility is that the supergiant star’s surface has been stained with a particularly large sunspot. Our own star gets sunspots from time to time, but they’re usually quite small. On a star like Betelgeuse, things are a lot different, and the turbulent magnetic forces at work may have produced a particularly massive sunspot that is actually making the entire star appear less bright.

正如普萊特指出的那樣，沒人能肯定地說，至少現(xiàn)在還不能，但有一種可能性是，這顆超級巨星的表面已經(jīng)被一個特別大的太陽黑子污染了。我們的恒星時不時會出現(xiàn)太陽黑子，但它們通常都很小。在參宿四這樣的恒星上，情況就大不相同了，而起作用的湍流磁力可能產(chǎn)生了一個特別大的太陽黑子，實際上使整個恒星看起來不那么明亮了。

The odds that Betelgeuse is preparing to blow its top still appear very slim, and it’s highly unlikely we’re about to witness the supergiant go full supernova anytime soon. Still, until anyone can conclusively explain what’s going on with the star, scientists will be keeping a particularly close eye on it.

參宿四準(zhǔn)備爆炸的可能性仍然非常小，我們也不太可能在短期內(nèi)看到這個超級巨星變成超新星。盡管如此，在任何人都能最終解釋這顆恒星到底發(fā)生了什么之前，科學(xué)家們將特別密切地關(guān)注它。