Karen J. Meech: The story of 'Oumuamua, the first visitor from another star system
凯伦 J · 梅赫: 奥陌陌,第一位来自其他星系的客人
Karen J. Meech is an astronomer who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the bigger picture of whether there is life elsewhere. Full bio
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for possible asteroid collision hazards,
天文观测,以避免小行星碰撞的危险,
is scanning the sky every night.
每晚都在扫描天空。
都会检查那些候选星体,
are examined by Pan-STARRS staff
moving rapidly between the stars,
在星系间快速移动的物体,
measurements of position and speed
位置和速度测量结果
wasn't from our solar system.
astronomers are waiting for.
都在等这个电话。
NASA就想找到一颗
an interstellar comet
since the 1970s,
from the nearest star system
离我们4.4光年的恒星系统
entered our solar system
of the constellation Lyra,
on September 9th,
close approach or unusual distance.
属于正常范围。
to see objects close by.
变得容易多了。
its closest approach to the Earth,
它已经掠过了近地点,
by astronomical standards.
这已经相当近了。
by its unwieldy catalog name,
目录命名来称呼它,
that passed through the solar system
1973年的经典科幻小说
science fiction story in 1973.
圆柱形宇宙飞船。
by a telescope in Hawaii,
on Hawaiian culture --
from the distant past reaching out to us.
找到我们的侦察兵或者信使。
was important for many reasons,
is for what 'Oumuamua can tell us
奥陌陌能告诉我们
system and the growth of planets
和行星的成长
gets ejected from the new solar system
被甩出这个新生的恒星系统。
through the dusty disk
that a shiver runs up and down your spine?
一阵颤抖的感觉沿着你的脊柱上下?
very emotionally moving?
from another solar system
about 'Oumuamua,
from another star system?
and what you can have,
and fading very rapidly.
消失得非常快。
by a factor of [10].
we were going to have
of getting telescope time --
peer-reviewed proposal process
competition for resources.
“礼貌地”争夺资源的竞争。
It was a fierce battle.
那是一场激烈的战斗。
perfectly crafted proposal words
我们申请到了使用时间。
selfish point of view,
is how massive 'Oumuamua is.
可能是奥陌陌的质量是多少。
it passed very close to the Earth,
until afterwards.
had it not missed the Earth?
of the velocity times its mass,
on how big it is and what it's made of.
以及由什么物质组成。
and what's its shape?
形状又是什么样?
think of comparing the brightness
想象一下,我们来比较两者的亮度,
on a distant airplane.
because it's so far away.
the surface of 'Oumuamua is,
it's very similar to small asteroids
应该跟我们太阳系中的
of charcoal and wet sand.
木炭和潮湿的沙子之间。
are used in what's called a service mode,
都在以所谓服务模式运行,
all the instructions
所有的操作流程,
for the data to come back,
it's cloudy last night.
是不是多云的天气。
any second chances here.
'Oumuamua decided not to be.
给我们带来一点挑战。
在星星之间穿梭。
racing between the stars.
the telescope is following its motion.
是跟着奥陌陌走的。
fainter, brighter, and fainter again,
of four sides of an oblong object.
四个面都会反射阳光。
conclusion about its shape.
非常难以置信的结论。
very long and narrow,
this means it's about half a mile long.
那就意味着它有800米长。
solar system looks like this.
that even have an axis ratio
超过5比1的天体
in its home solar system.
形成过程有关。
every 7.34 hours,
每7.34小时就发生变化,
to come in from other teams,
we learn about something,
is not rotating in a simple way.
around its short axis,
of it being violently tossed
from its brightness
来解释它的形状,
on how it's spinning,
what it may look like,
by space artist Bill Hartmann,
这幅漂亮的画作所展示的一样,
may be more of a flattened oval.
更像一个扁平的椭圆。
to have a piece of 'Oumuamua
我们能拿到一片奥陌陌的样本,
so we could study it in detail.
can't manage to launch
on remote observations.
interacts with the surface.
giving it a chemical fingerprint,
给它留下一个化学指纹,
may just reflect more blue
会反射更多蓝色的光
it reflected more red light,
rich surface of the comet recently visited
最近造访的那颗彗星
has the same composition.
发红的物体都有相同的成分。
tiny little bits of iron in the surface
of Saturn's moon Iapetus,
from the Cassini spacecraft.
拍下的照片中就可以看出来。
in other words, metal,
what's on the surface,
about what's on the inside.
它的内部由什么构成了。
that it must at least be strong enough
similar to that of rocky asteroids;
应该跟石质的小行星类似,
I want to show you
color images that we got
it's not all that spectacular.
was not because of the images,
并不在于它拍摄的照片,
our observations out
from the discovery,
along the orbit,
轨道的更多位置,
where 'Oumuamua came from.
a leftover archaeological remnant
of another planetary system,
that maybe 'Oumuamua formed
奥陌陌在形成的时候
that was much denser than our own,
这颗恒星比太阳密度要大,
shredded planetary material
this is something that formed
奥陌陌也许诞生于
it's a natural object,
我们都相信它是自然形成的,
that it's not something artificial.
the tumbling motion
翻滚的动作模式,
this is alien technology,
这是外星人的技术,
and search for a radio signal?
搜索一下无线电信号呢?
the Breakthrough Listen project did,
has remained completely quiet.
奥陌陌依然是静默状态。
a spacecraft to 'Oumuamua
一艘宇宙飞船去追赶奥陌陌,
and expensive voyage,
would be very difficult.
has many more things to teach us,
还可以教我们很多事情,
more surprises in store
科学家们继续研究数据,
continue to work with the data.
I think this visitor from afar
that our solar system isn't isolated.
并不是孤立的。
be surrounded by interstellar visitors
可能有许多星际访客,
than its provided answers,
比它解答的问题还要多,
to a visitor from another solar system.
其他星系的客人打招呼的人。
that talk very much. Thank you.
发现它的时候已经非常晚了。
pretty late in its journey towards us.
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
大型综合巡天望远镜,
发现这样的物体呢?
能发现很多这样的天体,
we'll start to see a lot of these things,
正在向太阳靠近,
as it's approaching the Sun,
to do all the science,
you can chase it.
就能进行追踪。
Let's thank Karen again.
非常感谢。再次感谢凯伦。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Karen J. Meech - Astronomer, astrobiologistKaren J. Meech is an astronomer who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the bigger picture of whether there is life elsewhere.
Why you should listen
Astrobiologist Karen J. Meech uses the leftover pieces from our solar system's formation to understand how habitable planets are made. Her curiosity about life beyond earth was inspired as a child watching Star Trek. From this, her path led to a career in physics and astronomy, with a PhD in planetary physics from MIT. She is now an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, where she leads the astrobiology group, and she is a passionate scientific educator.
Meech started her astronomical career investigating comets, the icy leftovers from the birth of our solar system. Her work led to an understanding of many of the processes that cause the beautiful tails to develop far from our Sun. She was co-investigator on three comet missions. Her discoveries provide information to test our understanding of how planetary systems are assembled. Now her work has embraced the power of interdisciplinary science, and she is combining geological field work, geochemistry, astronomical observations, theory and space mission concepts to address fundamental questions about how earth got its water.
Karen J. Meech | Speaker | TED.com