这个令人困惑的“正在消失的”系外行星，科学家们有了新的解释

这个令人困惑的“正在消失的”系外行星，科学家们有了新的解释

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，哈勃望远镜发现了一颗巨大的系外行星，美国宇航局将其命名为“Fomalhaut b”。这一令人兴奋的发现，是科学家们第一次能够收集系外行星的图像。

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，这颗行星似乎消失在了稀薄的空气中。现在，研究人员认为它根本就不存在。

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，根据发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)上的一项新研究，这颗之前被称为“Fomalhaut b的系外行星很可能是“由两个星子之间的大规模碰撞产生的弥散尘埃云”。

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

换句话说，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.

在他们的研究中，研究人员列出了他们认为这颗消失已久的星球发生了什么。多年来，这颗行星在图像中，以一个模糊的质量围绕着一颗距银河系25光年的恒星运行。

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.

但随着时间的推移，图像逐渐消失。截至2014年，任何望远镜都没有观测到这颗行星。他们相信，他们在哈勃望远镜的图像中真正观察到的是两个冰冷的物体相撞，留下的令人印象深刻的大量尘埃，看上去像一颗行星。

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.

天文学家们选择往好的方面看:这颗系外行星可能一开始就不存在，但至少另一种解释同样令人着迷。

“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.

亚利桑那大学斯图尔德天文台的助理天文学家Andras Gaspar在一份声明中说:“这种碰撞极其罕见，所以我们其实是看到了碰撞的证据，这同样是一件大事。”