没有人知道附近的超级巨星参宿四发生了什么

没有人知道附近的超级巨星参宿四发生了什么

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年年底出现的一个比较有趣的天文学故事是附近一颗被称为参宿四的恒星的奇异行为。它位于距离地球520到650光年之间的某个地方，这在整个宇宙中非常接近，这使它的行为在地球上引起了我们特别的兴趣。

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.

几个月前，科学家提醒我们参宿四正在变暗。这颗巨大的恒星目前是一颗红色的超级巨星，而它似乎正在变暗的事实暗示了一些可能的结果，包括可能的坍缩和超新星爆炸。现在，经过几周的观测，研究人员发现，参宿四不仅是在变暗，而且是以一种非常奇怪的方式变暗。

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:

据SYFY Wire的菲尔·普莱特报道，超大望远镜捕捉到的高分辨率图像显示，参宿四确实在变暗，但实际上只有部分亮度在变化。检查一下:

“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.”

欧洲南方天文台写道:“猎户座中的红巨星参宿四正在经历前所未有的变暗。”这张令人震惊的恒星表面图像是去年年底由欧洲南方天文台的超大望远镜上的球体仪器拍摄的，它是一项旨在了解恒星变得越来越暗的观测活动的首批观测结果之一。与2019年1月拍摄的照片相比，它显示出这颗恒星褪色了多少，以及它的外观形状发生了怎样的变化。”

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?

因为这颗恒星只有一部分亮度在变化，所以它的形状似乎发生了变化，呈现出一种椭圆形，而不是更均匀的圆形。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.

正如普莱特指出的那样，没人能肯定地说，至少现在还不能，但有一种可能性是，这颗超级巨星的表面已经被一个特别大的太阳黑子污染了。我们的恒星时不时会出现太阳黑子，但它们通常都很小。在参宿四这样的恒星上，情况就大不相同了，而起作用的湍流磁力可能产生了一个特别大的太阳黑子，实际上使整个恒星看起来不那么明亮了。

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.

参宿四准备爆炸的可能性仍然非常小，我们也不太可能在短期内看到这个超级巨星变成超新星。尽管如此，在任何人都能最终解释这颗恒星到底发生了什么之前，科学家们将特别密切地关注它。