VOA双语新闻 Scientists Observe Brightest Cosmic Explosion

Astronomers² have detected the brightest explosion ever witnessed in the heavens. It was a flash of light from across our galaxy³ so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and illuminated⁴ Earth's upper atmosphere. The researchers say if the blast had occurred closer to Earth, it might have lead to the death of much of the planet's life.

天文学家探测到宇宙中有史以来最为明亮的一次爆炸。爆炸的亮光在银河系一扫而过，光线如此明亮，以至于光从月球折射回来，把地球大气层的外层都照亮了。研究人员说，假如爆炸距离地球更近的话，可能会造成我们这个星球上一半多的生物死亡。

The monstrous⁵ cosmic explosion took place late in December, observed by U.S. and European satellites and ground telescopes around the world. It was impossible to miss. It was brighter than a full moon for a fraction of a second, although it shone more brilliantly in high energy gamma rays than in the lower energy visible light.

这次巨大的宇宙爆炸是在去年12月底，由美国和欧洲的卫星以及世界各地的射电望远镜观察到的。不容错过，就在一瞬间，亮度比满盘明月都要亮，但是这种光线是高能度的伽玛射线，肉眼是看不到的。

Astrophysicist David Palmer of the U.S. government's Los Alamos National Laboratory says the amount of energy equaled 100,000 years worth of sunlight. "In other words, this was as much energy during that tenth of a second as all the other stars in the galaxy at that time, times over 1,000," he said.

大卫·帕尔默是美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的天体物理学家，他表示这次爆炸总的能量相当于10万年的太阳光的能量。他说：“换言之，这次在十分之一秒里释放出的巨大能量，一千倍于整个银河系所有星星能量的总合。”

The scientists who observed the flash say it came from an isolated⁶ neutron⁷ star in the constellation⁸ Sagittarius about 50,000 light years away, the distance it takes light to travel in 50,000 years. Astronomer¹ Andrew Fruchter of the institute that operates the Hubble Space Telescope describes a neutron star as the spinning remnant of a massive star that has collapsed⁹ into a diameter of only 20 kilometers.

观测到这次爆炸亮光的科学家说，亮光来自于人马星座的一个孤立的中子星。有大约5万光年之远，这段距离光也要走上5万年。来自操控哈伯太空望远镜机构的天文学家安德鲁·福克尔说，中子星是巨星解体后塌陷到只有20公里直径大小的旋转残骸。

"Massive stars live fast, die young, and leave spinning corpses¹⁰. What we've seen is that their afterlives are even more interesting than we had thought," he said.

他说：“巨星活的快，死的早，留下的是旋转残骸。我们所看到的是它们死后的样子。比我们的想像要更有意思。”

The neutron star that caused the giant cosmic blast is an exotic type called a magnetar. It is so named because it has an extremely powerful magnetic field, 1,000 times stronger than an ordinary neutron star and a 1,000-trillion times that of Earth's. It is capable of erasing¹¹ the magnetic information on a credit card at a distance halfway¹² to the Moon. Only about a dozen magnetars are known among the billions of stars in the Milky¹³ Way.

导致发生宇宙大爆炸的中子星是一种的奇特类型叫做磁星，之所以这样命名是因为它有极强的磁场，比一个普通中子星的一千倍还强或者是地球的一千万亿倍。它的磁性可以在离月球一半的距离之外，把信用卡上的磁性扫光。在银河系数十亿颗恒星中只有十多个磁星被人们发现。

Astronomers believe the star's magnetic field caused the outburst, but do not understand how. One possibility is that the blast was like an ultra-powerful solar flare¹⁴. This is where a magnetic field changes shape and bumps into itself. Since magnetic fields cause electrical currents, such a collision could have caused a monumental short circuit visible from Earth.

天文学家认为，这种星球的磁场导致了爆炸的发生，但是，他们不明白是如何发生的。一种可能的原因是这种爆炸很像有超级能量的太阳耀斑。这就是磁星的磁场改变了形状然后向本身内部撞击。因此磁场产生了电流，这样的碰撞可以导致强烈的短路并且可在地球上看到。

Or a quake on the star's surface might have caused the massive eruption¹⁵ of energy.

一种理论是星球表面的地震导致了能源的突然释放。

Whatever the cause, the blitz of radiation expanded outward in a bubble at about one-fourth the speed of light. This energy soon showered Earth's upper atmosphere, tearing apart atoms in a region called the ionosphere to a greater depth than an ordinary solar flare and causing them to glow. It was so powerful that it pushed the instruments of 15 spacecraft off scale, whether or not they were pointing in its direction. It also saturated¹⁶ a U.S. telescope watching in x-ray wavelengths¹⁷.

不论是什么原因，猛烈的放射线象肥皂沫一样以四分之一光速向外喷出。这个能量很快显示到地球的外大气层，将在电离层中的原子击开，使它们发出比普通太阳耀斑使它们发的更亮的光。它的能量是如此巨大，使无论是否指着自己方向的15个航天器上的仪器偏离角度。这种射线也穿过了一个美国X光波望远镜。

Researcher Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics says if the explosion had occurred much closer to our solar system, say just 10 light years away, it would have severely¹⁸ damaged the atmosphere and possibly triggered a mass extinction¹⁹ of living things.

哈佛史密森天文物理中心的研究员布莱恩·詹兹勒表示如果这次爆炸发生在离我们太阳系很近的距离，比如10光年远的话，它就会严重破坏我们的大气层，很有可能导致生命物种的大量灭亡。

"These objects do not normally get this big this quickly. We're used to planting an acorn²⁰ in the ground and maybe waiting 50 years for it to turn slowly into an oak tree. This time, it was like we were standing²¹ in front of the acorn and it popped up into a full tree just in the space of a few weeks," he said. "This was so extreme that this may not happen again in our lifetimes."

“这些物体同常不会在这么快的时间里变得这么大。我们习惯了在地下种下一棵橡树种子，等上50年看它慢慢长成一棵大橡树。而这次我们就象站在种子面前，眼看只用了几个星期的时间，种子就变成了大树。这是非常不一般的，恐怕我们这辈子不会看到这种现像再发生了。”

The tremendous power of the event suggests a novel solution to a long-standing astronomical²² mystery. Scientists want to know the origins of the strange phenomenon of brief gamma ray bursts observed hundreds of times over recent decades. They say these short-duration flashes emit gamma rays in the same way the neutron star did in December and that such stars could explain a large number of the occurrences.

这次事件的巨大能量甚至可以认为是长期存在的天文学之迷的一种离奇解释。科学家们想知道伽马射线短暂爆发这种奇特现象的起源，在最近的几十年里他们观测到了几百次这种现象。他们表示这些短暂的闪亮和12月的中子星释放伽玛射线的道理是一样的。 这些恒星可以解释以前发生的一些现象。

To get at this puzzle, the U.S. space agency launched a spacecraft named "Swift" last November with the most sensitive gamma ray detectors²³ ever designed. David Palmer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory notes that, luckily, Swift saw this event after only one month on the job. "Sometimes being lucky is the best strategy," he said.

为了解开这个迷团，美国太空总署在去年11月发射了以"雨燕"命名并配备有到现在为止设计的最敏感的伽马射线探测器的航天器。美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的大卫·帕尔默说，很幸运"雨燕"仅仅在投入使用后一个月就观测到了这一现象。他说："有时走运才是最佳策略"。
 
 

1 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

2 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

4 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

5 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

6 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 neutron   

n.中子

参考例句：

• Neutron is neutral and slightly heavier than the proton.中子是中性的，比质子略重。
• Based on the neutron energy,the value of weighting factor was given.根据中子能量给出了相应的辐射权重因子的数值。

8 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

9 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

10 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

11 erasing   

v.擦掉( erase的现在分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He was like a sponge, erasing the past, soaking up the future. 他象一块海绵，挤出过去，吸进未来。 来自辞典例句
• Suddenly, fear overtook longing, erasing memories. 突然，恐惧淹没了渴望，泯灭了回忆。 来自辞典例句

12 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

13 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

14 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。

15 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

16 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

17 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

18 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

19 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

20 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

21 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

22 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

23 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技