(单词翻译:单击)
There's been a lot of exciting asteroid news lately,
最近有很多令人兴奋的小行星新闻，
which is not exactly a sentence you hear very often.
但这种情况很不常见。
First came an asteroid from somewhere else in the galaxy.
第一个消息关于银河系某处的一颗小行星。
And just last week, scientists published their first detailed data about the interstellar interloper.
上周，科学家们公布了关于星际入侵者的第一份详细数据。
Then there were the stories about a big asteroid called 3200 Phaethon,
然后是一颗叫做3200 Phaethon的大型小行星的故事，
which has an unusually small orbit and causes an unexplained meteor shower.
它有一个异常小的轨道，能产生无法解释的流星雨。
For some reason, most of those stories involved threatening headlines and graphics
出于某种原因，大多数这类故事都采用危险的标题和图片，
suggesting that Phaethon will come frighteningly close to the Earth and kill the dinosaurs... or something like that.
表明小行星将会非常接近地球并杀死恐龙...或者是类似事件。
Which is a shame, because the truth is, as always, a lot more interesting.
这种做法很丢人，因为事实是它一如既往得有趣。
But let's start with the interstellar visitor.
让我们从星际访客开始。
Scientists noticed it going way too fast to be orbiting the sun back in mid-October,
科学家们注意到它在10月中旬绕太阳旋转的速度太快了，
and they realized that it came from outside the solar system.
随即意识到它来自太阳系外。
Its name changed as we learned more about it, and now it's called 1I/2017 U1,
随着我们对它的了解越来越多，它的名字也发生了变化，现在叫做1I/2017 U1，
or just 'Oumuamua, a Hawaiian term roughly meaning something like "messenger from the distant past."
或者叫“奥陌陌”星，这是夏威夷语，意思有点儿像“远方的信使”。
But no translation or pronunciation is perfect, so please feel free to correct me.
但是没有一个翻译或发音是完美的，所以请随时纠正我。
Ever since it was first discovered, telescopes worldwide have frantically turned toward 'Oumuamua.
自从它第一次被发现，全世界的望远镜都在疯狂转向它，
to study it before it's too far from the sun to see.
想在它离太阳太远之前研究它。
And scientists released their first results last week,
科学家们上周公布了他们的第一份结果，
in a paper published in the journal Nature and another submitted for review in The Astrophysical Journal.
发表在《自然》杂志上的一篇论文和另一篇发表在《天体物理学杂志》上的论文中涉及了。
And TLDR: 'Oumuamua is generally kind of boring, but in the best way.
论文太长了，就不读了：“奥陌陌”星通常很无聊，但论文写得很好。
Comets tend to be the fastest things in our solar system,
彗星往往是太阳系中速度最快的天体，
so they'd be mostly likely to get kicked into interstellar space.
所以它们很可能会被踢进星际空间。
But based on the light 'Oumuamua reflects and its lack of a tail,
但基于“奥陌陌”星反射光和它缺少尾巴的事实，
scientists think it is much more like a rocky asteroid than an icy comet.
科学家们认为它更像是一颗岩石小行星，而不是一颗冰冷的彗星。
In fact, the reflected light makes it look a lot like our asteroids;
事实上，反射光使它看起来更像我们的小行星，
'Oumuamua would fit right in with the hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbiting the sun right now.
“奥陌陌”星与目前围绕太阳运行的成千上万颗小行星相吻合。
They're made of pretty much the same stuff.
它们几乎是由同种物质构成的。
Based on how the brightness of the reflected light changes over time,
根据反射光的亮度随时间变化而变化，
scientists also think that 'Oumuamua is spinning around every seven hours or so.
科学家们还认为，“奥陌陌”星大约每7个小时旋转一次。
And for something half a kilometer long to spin that fast,
要想半公里长的天体旋转得那么快，
it has to be made of some fairly strong rocks,
它必须由一些相当坚硬的岩石组成才行，
although that's pretty normal in our solar system's asteroids too.
虽然这在太阳系的小行星上也很正常。
The most surprising characteristic of 'Oumuamua is probably its shape.
“奥陌陌”星最令人惊讶的特征可能是它的形状。
The light changes so dramatically as it spins
当它旋转时，光线会戏剧性地变化，
that 'Oumuamua seems to be about ten times longer than it is wide,
使“奥陌陌”星的长度似乎是宽度的10倍，
so it's probably shaped like a cigar or a marker.
所以它的形状很像雪茄或马克笔。
Some people online have started speculating that
一些网民已经开始猜测，
'Oumuamua is exactly the same shape and size as an alien spaceship.
“奥陌陌”星和外星飞船的形状和大小完全相同。
And as soon as they provide their close-up, high-resolution, peer-reviewed pictures of alien spacecraft,
只要他们提供外星飞船的特写、高分辨率和同行评议的图片，
we can start comparing their shapes and characteristics.
我们就可以比较它们的形状和特征了。
But as far as any scientists can tell, this thing's just a normal asteroid.
但据所有科学家所知，它只是一颗普通的小行星。
Which is exactly why it's so exciting:
这就是为什么它如此令人兴奋的原因：
it helps confirm that there's nothing special about our neck of the galaxy.
它有助于证实我们星系的“颈部”没什么特别之处。
If our solar system is normal, that means what happens here probably happens all over the place.
如果我们的太阳系正常，就意味着这里发生的事任何地方都能发生。
So even though we can't visit other star systems,
所以即使我们不能参观其他恒星星系，
we can learn more about them by studying our own.
通过研究我们自己的星系也可以学到更多知识。
Which brings us to the other weird asteroid that's about to pass by.
这让我们想到了另一颗即将经过的奇怪小行星。
Among those hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbiting the sun,
在成千上万绕太阳运行的小行星中，
we only know of one that produces a meteor shower.
我们只知道一颗小行星能产生流星雨。
It's called 3200 Phaethon.
它就是3200 Phaethon。
And around December 16, it'll be kind of near the Earth,
大约在12月16日，它会靠近地球，
but not nearly as close as you'd think based on some recent articles.
但远不及你根据一些近期文章想象的那么近。
Most meteor showers come from Earth plowing through the dusty debris left behind comets that pass near our orbit.
大多数流星雨来自于地球穿过的的尘埃碎片，而这些尘埃是由经过我们轨道的彗星留下的。
When those dust grains burn up in our atmosphere, they produce bright streaks across the sky.
当这些尘埃颗粒在我们的大气中燃烧时，会在天空中产生明亮的光纹。
But in 1989, an astronomer noticed that the annual Geminid meteor shower,
但在1989年，一位天文学家注意到每年
which happens around the middle of December, doesn't follow this pattern.
通常发生在12月中旬的双子座流星雨没有遵循惯例。
Instead, it's from 3200 Phaethon, a five-kilometer-wide asteroid that orbits the sun about every year and a half.
相反，它来自3200 Phaethon，一颗直径5公里，绕太阳公转大约一年半的小行星。
Asteroids don't usually have dust trails that could cause something like a meteor shower,
小行星通常不会有尘埃尾迹，能产生流星雨那样的东西。
and astronomers still aren't sure why Phaethon is the only known exception.
天文学家们仍然不清楚为什么Phaethon是唯一已知的例外。
One popular explanation is that Phaethon used to be a comet,
一种普遍的解释是Phaethon曾经是一颗彗星，
but it ran out of loose dust sometime in the last couple thousand years.
但在过去的几千年里，它用尽了松动的灰尘。
And since then, it's just looked like any other asteroid.
从那时起，它就和其他小行星一样。
We know that's a thing that can happen based on other dead comets we've seen,
根据我们见过的其他死亡彗星，我们知道这种情况可能会发生，
and it makes sense: Phaethon's orbit is pretty small for a regular comet,
而且它很有道理：对于普通彗星来说，Phaethon的轨道相当小，
and it actually gets closer to the sun than any other named asteroid.
而且它比任何其他命名的小行星更接近太阳。
It spends so much time being warmed and exposed to the particles and radiation pressure coming from the sun
它长时间被加热，暴露在粒子和太阳辐射之下，
that it might have basically run out of dust.
这可能会耗尽灰尘。
This idea gained more support when sudden bursts of dust flew off Phaethon as it got closer to the sun in 2009 and 2012,
Phaethon在2009年和2012年靠近太阳时，尘埃流突然飞离它，
just like they might fly off a rocky comet.
就像它们会飞离一颗多岩石彗星一样，使得这一想法获得了更多支持。
But not everyone agrees.
但并不是每个人都认同。
The grains in those recent bursts were way smaller than the ones in the Geminids,
最近爆发的这些颗粒比双子座颗粒要小，
which is one of the best annual meteor showers because of the relatively large grains that produce it.
这是每年最好的流星雨之一，因为它是由较大粒子产生的。
So other scientists think Phaethon used to be bigger but broke apart,
因此其他科学家认为，Phaethon曾经是更大的天体，却分裂了，
leaving behind the Geminids and a few asteroids.
留下了双子座和一些小行星。
But hardly any of that information made it into most of the Phaethon stories that have been circulating recently.
但几乎没有任何信息能让它加入到最近流传的大部分Phaethon故事中。
They mostly focused on the fact that it'll be about ten million kilometers from Earth on December 16.
他们主要关注的是它在12月16日离地球大约1000万公里。
That's about 25 times farther than the Moon is, with absolutely zero chance of hitting Earth,
这比地月距离远25倍，绝对不可能撞击地球，
or re-killing the dinosaurs, or whatever else a banner graphic might've suggested.
或者重新杀死恐龙，或者发生任何一个标题图片暗示的事件。
And just to cover all our bases: Phaethon is not an alien spaceship, either.
考虑到所有问题后得出：Phaethon也不是外星宇宙飞船。
But the dust it's left near our orbit puts on a pretty good show.
但它留在轨道附近的尘埃上演了一场美丽的表演。
The Geminids are best around December 13, but they last for the first couple weeks of December.
观看双子座流星雨的最好时间在12月13日左右，但它会在12月的前几周才有。
You can see them from pretty much anywhere on Earth,
你可以在地球上的任何地方看到它们，
and they'll mostly seem like they come from the constellation Gemini, right near Orion's Belt,
它们似乎大多来自猎户座腰带上的双子星座，
but really, you can look anywhere in the sky.
但实际上，你可以在天空的任何地方看到。
With more than a hundred meteors an hour under the right conditions,
在合适的条件下，每小时有一百多颗流星，
the Geminids are pretty hard to miss.
双子座很难错过。
So if you can, you might want to spend some time looking at the late night sky in the next few weeks.
所以如果可以的话，你可能想花点儿时间看看未来几周的夜空。
You won't regret it. Unless it's cloudy, in which case I'm really sorry.
你不会后悔的。除非是阴天，否则我真的很抱歉。
Maybe pick a different night.
也许你要选择一个不同的夜晚。
