(单词翻译:单击)
If you spend any time studying space, you're bound to find some strange stuff; that's one of the best parts about astronomy.
如果大家有花时间研究过宇宙的话,一定会发现一些奇怪的现象；发现奇异之旅正是天文学的精髓部分之一。
But every now and then, even the most experienced scientists find something that makes them scratch their heads. Like Przybylski's Star.
但有时候，即便是最有经验的科学家也会发现一些捉摸不透的东西。比如，奇异星。
We've been studying it since the 1960s, but we still can't seem to figure out what the thing is made of.
自上世纪60年代以来，我们就一直在研究奇异星，但我们似乎依然无法搞明白它的组成。
And according to one study, that might be because it contains elements or isotopes scientists have never seen before.
根据一则研究，这或许是因为奇异星的组成元素或同位素是科学家以前未曾见过的。
Move over, Tabby's Star, because this might be the weirdest star in the universe.
同样奇异的还有塔比之星，因为这可能是宇宙里最为怪异的恒星之一。
Przybylski's Star is about 370 light-years away, and it's named after the Polish astronomer who first studied it.
奇异星距离地球大约370光年，它是以波兰天文学家命名的，因为该天文学家是第一位研究它的人。
Przybylski published his first paper about the object in 1961, based on spectroscopy observations.
1961年，普瑞兹毕尔斯基发表了关于奇异星的第一篇论文，其根据就是光谱学的观测结果。
This is a common method that links the type of light a star emits to the elements it contains, among other things.
这是一种常见的方法——将某颗恒星发出的光线类型与恒星所含的元素联系起来。
And right away, he knew the observations of this star weren't normal.
当下的他就知道，这颗恒星的观测结果不太正常。
For one, based on its spectrum, the star seemed to have barely any iron in it, which was weird.
其一是因为：根据其光谱，这颗恒星中似乎几乎不含铁，这就很怪异了。
Most stars survive by fusing lighter elements into heavier ones, and iron is one of the most common results.
因为大多数恒星存活的必要条件是：将质量较轻的元素融合到质量较重的元素中，而铁就是最常见的元素之一。
On the other hand, this star also seemed to be chock full of lanthanides, even heavier elements like holmium and europium, which normally aren't as abundant in stars.
其二是因为：这颗恒星似乎满是镧系元素，甚至还有质量更大的元素，比如钬和铕，这样的元素在恒星里很少见。
At the time, Przybylski suggested this star must be pretty far along in its lifespan to have produced so many heavy elements.
当时的普瑞兹毕尔斯基认为，这颗恒星的生命周期一定很长，所以才会产生质量如此大的元素。
But today, we know the story is a little more complicated than that. Isn't it always?
但今天，我们知道情况要比普瑞兹毕尔斯基所想的复杂，宇宙不总是这样吗？
Thanks to lots of scientists and telescope hours, we now know that Przybylski's Star is actually part of a special class called Ap stars, or A-type peculiar stars.
在许多科学家的努力和望远镜的帮助下，我们现在终于知道，奇异星实际上是一类特殊恒星中的一部分。这类恒星名为Ap星，也就是光谱A型星。
Regular A-type stars are usually hot and have no magnetic fields.
一般的光谱A型星都温度极高，而且没有磁场。
But Ap stars have cool surfaces, strong magnetic fields, and really long rotation periods.
但Ap星表面凉爽，磁场极强，而且旋转周期非常长。
For some reason, these stars also tend to have lots of lanthanides, but not much iron.
出于某种原因，这些恒星含有很多的镧系元素，但铁含量极少。
So in that respect, Przybylski's Star isn't as odd as we first thought.
所以，这样看来，奇异星并不像我们想的那样奇怪。
But that doesn't mean it's normal, either.
不过，这并不能说明奇异星就是正常的恒星。
According to a few papers, there's evidence that this star also contains atoms that have no business being there at all.
一些论文指出，有证据表明，奇异星还含有一些毫无作用的原子。
Specifically, ones like promethium and plutonium.
尤其是钷原子和钚原子。
These elements and their isotopes, or versions with a different number of neutrons, have relatively short half-lives.
这些元素及其同位素（中子数量不同的原子），他们的半衰期相对短。
This is the time it takes for half of the atoms in a radioactive substance to decay into something else.
放射性物质中的原子在这样的时间里，已经会有一半发生了衰变。
Promethium, for example, has a half-life of less than 20 years.
比如，钷的半衰期就不到20年。
And plutonium has a half-life of some 24,000 years at most, which is still barely any time at all for a star.
而钚的半衰期最多只有近2.4万年，这对恒星来说简直是九牛一毛。
That means that, unless they're new additions or are being replenished somehow, they should have all completely decayed by the time humans and telescopes showed up.
也就是说，他们已经新生事物，并且正在不断得到补充，他们在人类和望远镜形成之前就已经发生了彻底的衰变。
So far, there are a few possible explanations for this.
目前为止，对于这种现象有几种可能的解释。
Some astronomers have suggested that these atoms could have come from a recent supernova, or from ongoing reactions catalyzed by a nearby neutron star.
一些天文学家认为，这些原子可能是来自于最近的一次超新星爆炸，或者是来自于正在进行的反应，并得到了附近某颗中子星的催化作用。
But the evidence for these ideas isn't that strong.
但这些想法的证据还不够充分。
You also can't have an astronomy mystery without some alien hypotheses.
凡是天文学奥秘，总要与外星人扯上点什么关系。
But, uh, if you have any peer-reviewed papers about that, you can let us know.
不过，如果大家知道有论文经过了同行评审的话，一定要让我们知道哦。
Still, there's one other possible explanation that doesn't involve First Contact.
还有另一个可能的解释，该解释与初亏无关。
And if it's true, it would change the textbooks, and not just the astronomy ones.
如果该解释为真，那么就会颠覆教科书的内容，而不只是天文学的内容。
In 2017, in the journal Physical Review A, three researchers suggested that Przybylski's Star might actually contain super heavy elements or isotopes we haven't even discovered yet.
2017年，在《物理评论A》中，3位研究人员提出，奇异星可能包含了人类未曾发现的超重元素或同位素。
And, over time, these super heavy atoms could decay into the short-lived isotopes we've observed.
而随着时间的流逝，这些超重原子会衰变为周期更短的同位素，是人类见过的同位素。
Specifically, they proposed that the atoms could be versions of three elements: flerovium, unbihexium, or unbinilium.
他们还提出，这些原子可能是3种元素的同位素，即鈇、126号元素和120号元素。
We've made really tiny quantities of flerovium in the lab before, like, around 100 atoms total, but we've never seen it in nature.
以前，人类也曾在实验室里制造过少量鈇，比如大概总共100个鈇原子的样子，但我们在自然界里从未见过鈇。
And although we think unbihexium and unbinilium should exist based on what we know about chemistry, we haven't observed them yet.
而虽然我们认为126号元素和120号元素可能存在，根据就是化学，但我们确实未曾亲眼见到过。
So if this hypothesis is true, it would mean that studying Przybylski's Star would let us see these atoms in the wild, or at all, for the first time!
所以，如果该假设为真，那么就意味着：研究奇异星可能会让我们看到自然界中这样的原子，是第一次哦！
There's even a chance that the isotopes in the star would be part of the island of stability, a hypothetical group of heavy, extra stable elements that scientists have been trying to track down.
甚至还有可能：奇异星上的某些同位素是稳定岛上的元素，是我们假设出来的一组质量大、格外稳定的元素，是科学家一直苦苦追寻的元素。
That would make this star not only important for astronomy, but for chemistry and physics on Earth, too.
这样的话，奇异星就不只对天文学重要了，它对地球上的化学和物理学都会很重要。
Now, it is worth mentioning that the team didn't have any new explanation for how those heavy atoms would've gotten there.
现在，值得一提的是：该研究小组尚未解释出为何这些大质量的原子会在那里出现。
And there's still a chance we misread the data, and that Przybylski's Star doesn't really contain short-lived isotopes.
依然有可能是我们误读了数据，也有可能是奇异星并不包含衰变期短的同位素。
After all, the spectrum for this star, like the one Przybylski first used to study it, is difficult to read.
毕竟，奇异星的光谱，比如普瑞兹毕尔斯基一开始用来研究奇异星的光谱，是非常难以解读的
Normally, spectra have a few fairly clear-cut lines that scientists can link to different elements.
正常情况下，光谱都会有一些格外清晰的线路，可以让科学家联系到不同的元素。
But for this star, those lines are kind of all over the place.
但对奇异星来说，这样的线路到处都是。
So there's an ongoing debate about what's going on, because something weird is definitely happening to produce that messy spectrum.
所以，目前大家正在讨论是怎么回事，因为肯定是有奇怪的事情发生，不然光谱怎么会如此混乱呢？
One helpful next step would be to take more measurements and hope they're clearer.
下一步会有助于我们的研究，即进行更多的测量，并起到测量结果清晰明确。
But there's a lot of other stuff to study, too, so most people aren't actively looking into it.
但还有很多东西需要研究，所以大多数人并没有积极的投身于下一步测量。
In the meantime, researchers will keep trying to solve this mystery with what they have.
与此同时，研究人员将继续试图根据现有的数据来解开谜题。
And maybe one day, they'll get to name some new elements because of it.
也许有一天，他们可以说出其中一些元素的名字。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space!
感谢收看本期的《太空科学秀》！
If you'd like to learn more about how stars have transformed the universe, you can watch our episode about the very first stars.
如果您想了解宇宙中恒星是如何形成的，可以观看我们有关第一批恒星的集锦哦。
Because without their influence, you wouldn't be here.
因为如果没有恒星，也就没有我们。
