外星人來了？加拿大發(fā)現(xiàn)15億光年外重復(fù)無線電波
加拿大的一架望遠鏡捕獲到來自遙遠星系的神秘信號，近日天文學(xué)家揭秘了這些信號的細節(jié)。
The precise nature and origin of the blasts of radio waves is unknown.
這些快速射電暴的性質(zhì)和來源尚不得而知。
Among the 13 fast radio bursts, known as FRBs, was a very unusual repeating signal, coming from the same source about 1.5 billion light years away.
在這13個快速射電暴(FRB)中，有一個電波很不同尋常，它來自15億光年外，并且是重復(fù)電波。
宇宙中有一種快速發(fā)生，輻射能量極高又迅速消失的神秘現(xiàn)象，叫做“快速射電暴”(FRBs)，這種爆發(fā)持續(xù)時間極短，通常只有幾毫秒，是一種物理起源尚不明確的河外射電束，卻能夠釋放出相當(dāng)于太陽在一整天內(nèi)釋放的能量，以至于可以在數(shù)十億光年之外的距離被觀察到，但它們具體的產(chǎn)生機制究竟是什么，仍然存在爭論。甚至有人認為這是外星人發(fā)出的信號。
Such an event has only been reported once before, by a different telescope.
此前研究者用不同的望遠鏡也捕捉到過同樣的電波。
"Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there," said Ingrid Stairs, an astrophysicist from the University of British Columbia (UBC).
“第二次捕捉到重復(fù)電波，意味著我們還可能捕捉到更多，”不列顛哥倫比亞大學(xué)的天體物理學(xué)家英格麗·斯泰爾斯稱。
"And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzles - where they're from and what causes them."
“有了更多重復(fù)電波和更多可供研究的資源，我們也許能夠解開這些宇宙的謎題：這些電波是從何而來，又是什么原因造成的。”
The CHIME observatory, located in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, consists of four 100-metre-long, semi-cylindrical antennas, which scan the entire northern sky each day.
捕捉到這一電波的是加拿大氫強度測繪實驗射電望遠鏡。它位于不列顛哥倫比亞省奧卡諾根山谷，由4個100米長的半圓柱天線組成，每天都會對整個北部天空進行掃描。
The telescope only got up and running last year, detecting 13 of the radio bursts almost immediately, including the repeater.
這臺望遠鏡于去年啟用，并在啟用后不久就檢測到13次射電爆，包括這個重復(fù)電波。
The research has now been published in the journal Nature.
這一研究發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上。
"We have discovered a second repeater and its properties are very similar to the first repeater," said Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University, Canada.
加拿大麥基爾大學(xué)的斯里哈什·滕杜卡爾說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了重復(fù)的電波，它的屬性與上一次發(fā)現(xiàn)的電波非常相似。”
"This tells us more about the properties of repeaters as a population."
“這使我們獲得了更多關(guān)于這些電波整體特性的信息。”
There are a number of theories about what could be causing them.
目前存在多種理論解釋這些宇宙電波的來源。
They include a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field that is spinning very rapidly, two neutron stars merging together, and, among a minority of observers, some form of alien spaceship.
例如，這些電波可能來自一顆具有強磁場的快速旋轉(zhuǎn)的中子星，可能是兩顆中子星合并在了一起等。此外，有少數(shù)觀察者認為，這些電波其實是來自某種外星宇宙飛船。
大家看到這則新聞后，開始熱烈討論宇宙深處神秘信號到底要不要回應(yīng)?外星人是不是要來找我們了?網(wǎng)友的評論也是各種戲多：
最后，一起聽聽科學(xué)家都怎么說吧!
