這個令人困惑的“正在消失的”系外行星，科學家們有了新的解釋

這個令人困惑的“正在消失的”系外行星，科學家們有了新的解釋

In 2004, the Hubble Telescope spotted what appeared to be a massive exoplanet, which NASA named Fomalhaut b. The exciting discovery was one of the first times scientists were able to collect images of an exoplanet.

2004年，哈勃望遠鏡發(fā)現(xiàn)了一顆巨大的系外行星，美國宇航局將其命名為“Fomalhaut b”。這一令人興奮的發(fā)現(xiàn)，是科學家們第一次能夠收集系外行星的圖像。

However, in more recent images, it looked as though the planet disappeared into thin air. Now, researchers think it never existed in the first place.

然而，在最近的照片中，這顆行星似乎消失在了稀薄的空氣中?，F(xiàn)在，研究人員認為它根本就不存在。

Instead, the exoplanet previously known as Fomalhaut b is likely a “dispersing cloud of dust, produced by a massive collision between two planetesimals,” according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

相反，根據(jù)發(fā)表在《美國國家科學院院刊》(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)上的一項新研究，這顆之前被稱為“Fomalhaut b的系外行星很可能是“由兩個星子之間的大規(guī)模碰撞產(chǎn)生的彌散塵埃云”。

In other words, it’s probably just space trash.

換句話說，它可能只是太空垃圾。

In their study, the researchers laid out what they think happened to the long lost planet. For years, the planet appeared in images as a faint mass orbiting around a star 25 lightyears away from the Milky Way.

在他們的研究中，研究人員列出了他們認為這顆消失已久的星球發(fā)生了什么。多年來，這顆行星在圖像中，以一個模糊的質量圍繞著一顆距銀河系25光年的恒星運行。

But as time went on, the image faded. As of 2014, there was no sighting of the planet on any telescopes. They believe what they were really observing in the Hubble images was two icy objects colliding, leaving an impressive mass of dust that looked similar to a planet.

但隨著時間的推移，圖像逐漸消失。截至2014年，任何望遠鏡都沒有觀測到這顆行星。他們相信，他們在哈勃望遠鏡的圖像中真正觀察到的是兩個冰冷的物體相撞，留下的令人印象深刻的大量塵埃，看上去像一顆行星。

Astronomers are choosing to look on the bright side: The exoplanet likely never existed to begin with, but at least the alternative explanation is equally fascinating.

天文學家們選擇往好的方面看:這顆系外行星可能一開始就不存在，但至少另一種解釋同樣令人著迷。

“These collisions are exceedingly rare and so this is a big deal that we actually get to see evidence of one,” Andras Gaspar, assistant astronomer at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, said in a statement.

亞利桑那大學斯圖爾德天文臺的助理天文學家Andras Gaspar在一份聲明中說:“這種碰撞極其罕見，所以我們其實是看到了碰撞的證據(jù)，這同樣是一件大事。”