(单词翻译:单击)
Stars explode and die all the time, but they’re so faint and far away that on Earth, we rarely notice.
一直都会有恒星爆炸消亡，但这效果在地球上的我们看来很微弱、很遥远，所以我们几乎不会注意到。
Dying stars we can see with the naked eye are few and far between.
可以用肉眼看到的消亡恒星很少、很远。
Luckily for us, though, three astronomers announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting last week that in not too long, we’re in for a treat.
所幸对我们来说，美国天文学会的天文学家在上周的一次会议上宣布：用不了多久，我们就能如愿以偿地大饱眼福了。
They found that, as early as the 2060s, two stars are going to merge, and that event will be so bright that we’ll be able to see it with the naked eye!
这些天文学家发现，最早会在21世纪60年时，会有2颗恒星合并，这次活动会特别明亮，我们用肉眼也看得到！
The 2060s might seem like a long way off for us mere mortals, but it will definitely be spectacular.
21世纪60年代对我们这些凡人来说听起来可能很遥远，但会很壮观。
Because this explosion won’t be your typical supernova.
因为这次爆炸不会是你们见到的唯一一次超新星。
It will be something completely new to us.
这次对我们来说会是全新的。
The system is called V Sagittae. It’s roughly 7800 light-years from here, and it’s classified as a Cataclysmic Variable, or CV.
这个体系叫做V Sagittae，距离地球大概7800光年。这个体系被归类为激变形变光星（CV）。
That means it’s a binary star system made of a relatively Sun-like star and a white dwarf.
这意味着这是一个双星体系，由相对来说像太阳的恒星和一颗白矮星组成。
That’s the leftover core of a star that wasn’t massive enough to undergo a supernova at the end of its life.
那是一颗恒星残留的内核，这颗恒星质量不够大，没能在生命的末端经受住超新星的过程。
And these two objects are close enough that the white dwarf’s gravity pulls matter off its companion, stealing it and gaining mass as a result.
而这2个物体距离足够近，近到那颗白矮星的引力可以将其伴星上的物质脱离下来，窃取其伴星的物质，从而增加自己的质量 。
In normal cases, these systems are mind-boggling.
正常来说，这样的体系是让人难以置信的。
Because eventually, the gluttonous white dwarf will steal so much matter that it either explodes, or its outer layer gets blasted into space.
因为最终“贪吃的”白矮星会窃取足够多的物质，导致自己要么爆炸，要么外层会炸飞到太空中。
But V Sagittae is special. It’s the only CV we know of whose white dwarf is less massive than its companion.
但V Sagittae很特别。这是目前所知的唯一一个白矮星质量比伴星要少的CV。
About four times less massive, too. This imbalance causes some weird effects, but ultimately, it means the stars in this system aren’t in a stable orbit.
而且其白矮星的质量是其伴星的1/4。这种失衡引发了奇怪的效果，但也最终意味着这个体系里的恒星处于不稳定的轨道上。
They’re spiraling toward each other, and eventually, they’re going to collide.
它们彼此环绕，最终会相撞。
Recently, this team analyzed data about the system’s light and position going back to 1890.
最近，该团队分析了该体系在1890年时光和位置的相关数据。
And they confirmed V Sagittae is in the middle of this death spiral, and that somewhere between 2067 and 2099, the two objects will officially merge.
他们确认发现，V Sagittae处于死亡螺旋的中间，大概在2067年-2099年之间，这2个问题会正式聚合在一起。
That will create a new light in our night sky for more than a month!
如果这一幕发生，那么在长达一个多月的时间里，我们的夜空中会出现一个新的光亮。
Right now, this system is too dim to be visible. But during that month, it will be as bright as Sirius — the current brightest star we can see after dark.
现在，这个体系还比较灰暗，所以我们看不见。但聚合后的那一个月里，其亮度会和天狼星一样——天狼星是我们在黑暗中能看到的最亮的恒星。
And it could even briefly be as bright as Venus, the brightest night-time object besides the Moon — or the International Space Station, depending on the timing.
到时候也可能跟金星一样明亮，金星是月球旁边（或者国际空间站旁边）夜空中最亮的物体——具体亮度取决于观测的时机。
When it’s all over, this system will end up as a single star, and it’s not clear if we’ll be able to see it without a really fancy telescope.
等这一切都结束的时候，这个体系会变成一颗单独的恒星。目前尚不清楚我们是否能在没有强大望远镜的情况下看到它。
So most of us might not have long to see this for ourselves.
所以我们大多数过不了多久就能亲眼看到这一切了。
But whatever time we /do/ have will still be amazing.
不过，无论什么时候能看到，都会很让人惊艳。
Of course, while 80 years is barely a blink of an eye on cosmic time scales, 2099 is pretty far away…
当然了，虽然80年在宇宙的维度里只是白驹过隙，但2099年对我们来说依然很遥远……
So, here’s hoping that merger happens sooner rather than later.
所以，我们希望聚合的那一天来的越早越好……
Because, let’s be honest: I’d really like to be around to see it.
因为，实话实说：我本人很想看。
While we wait for the future to arrive, though, let’s take a moment and look back to the past.
在等待未来到来的时候，我们可以用一点时间来回顾过去。
Because this Monday in the journal PNAS, scientists announced the oldest solid matter ever found on Earth.
因为这周一的时候，在《美国国家科学院院刊》上，科学家宣布最古老的固态物质在地球上发现了。
It’s a compound called silicon carbide, and it formed hundreds of millions of years before our solar system was born.
这是一种化合物，叫做碳化硅。碳化硅形成数千万年之后，太阳系才形成。
And, as if that weren’t cool enough, it also gives astronomers some clues about our galactic history.
如果这听起来还不够酷的话，那我要说：碳化硅还让天文学家了解了一些关于银河系历史的线索。
Most of the solids in our solar system — things like dust and rocks — condensed from gas about 4.6 billion years ago, about the time the Sun formed.
太阳系里的大多数固体——比如尘埃和岩石——会从46亿年前的气体中浓缩而来，那时候，太阳刚刚形成。
But a tiny percent of dust was already there, just hanging out.
但已经有少部分尘埃在那里游荡了。
Astronomers call them presolar grains, but you’ll sometimes hear the more poetic term “stardust”.
天文学家称它们为太阳系外物质，但有时候你还会听到更有诗情画意的叫法“星尘”。
That’s because they formed in the outer atmospheres of red giant stars in the last stages of their lives.
这是因为他们是在巨型红色恒星的外层大气形成的，形成时，这些恒星已经在生命周期的末端。
As the stars died and shed their outer layers, the grains entered interstellar space and got struck by cosmic rays — high-energy, charged particles.
这些恒星消亡时，会释放掉外层，这些颗粒会进入星系间，会因为宇宙射线而卡住——高能量的带电粒子。
That caused reactions that changed the elements the grains were made of.
这会导致组成这些颗粒的元素发生变化。
Eventually, these tiny pieces wandered into our neighborhood.
最终，这些小颗粒会晃晃悠悠地来到我们附近。
When our solar system started forming, some of them got encased by new solid matter, which protected them against further damage and the effects of time.
太阳系开始形成时，其中一些颗粒被新的固态物质包裹住，这使得他们不会受到进一步的损害和时间的影响。
While a lot of that matter went on to form planets, plenty was left over, free to hit Earth in the form of meteorites.
虽然很多物质都继续形成恒星了，但还有很多物质留了下来，可以以陨石的形式撞击地球。
And so, billions of years later, we’ve started finding them.
于是，数十亿年后，我们开始发现它们。
Presolar grains are really rare and tiny — typically a few millionths of a meter in size.
太阳系外的颗粒十分罕见，也很细小——典型的大小是百万分之一米。
But they do turn up. The meteorite containing these record-breaking grains landed in Australia back in 1969.
但他们还是出现了。有着破纪录颗粒的陨石于1969年在澳大利亚着陆。
And recently, scientists took a fragment of that space rock, crushed it up, and used acid to dissolve all but the silicon carbide grains.
近日，科学家取样了部分陨石，磨碎后，通过酸来溶解出碳化硅颗粒。
Then, they calculated the age of those grains by measuring how much of a special isotope of neon they contained.
然后，他们计算了这些颗粒的年龄，方法是测量其中的一种氮的同位素。
That amount determined how long the grains had been exposed to cosmic rays before getting sealed up.
从这个量可以判断出这些颗粒在被密封之前暴置于宇宙射线的时间。
Most of the pieces had traveled through space for less than 300 million years before being incorporated into the early solar system.
大多数颗粒在宇宙中行进了不到3亿年的时候，就混入了早期的太阳系中。
So, that would put them around 4.9 billion years old at most.
所以它们最多也就49亿年左右。
But a few other pieces had traveled for more than a billion years.
但还有一些行进了10亿多年。
Making them more than 5.5 billion years old. It’s those little guys that set the record for the oldest solids on the planet.
所以它们大概有55亿多年的历史。正是这些小家伙创下了该行星上最古老的固体的记录。
But don’t get me wrong: Those younger grains are important, too.
不过，别误会哦：这些年龄小一些的颗粒也很重要。
Their abundance supports the hypothesis that our galaxy’s production of stars isn’t constant.
它们的多样性支持了一种假说——我们星系产生恒星是不持续的。
That there was a surge in star formation about seven billion years ago that produced the stars needed to create these grains.
大概70一年前，恒星形成的频率有所提升，产生的恒星总数足够产生这些颗粒。
And that’s important, because researchers are still trying to figure out what star formation has looked like over time.
这很重要，因为科学家依然在试图弄清恒星的形成随着时间的流逝有什么变化。
And these grains could help them learn more. So it’s nice to know you can be important without having to break records.
这些颗粒会帮助他们了解更多。所以，即便没有破纪录，也可以有很重要的地位。
Excellent motivational message, universe!
宇宙也在向我们传达信息，向我们鼓劲儿呀！
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space News!
感谢收看本期节目！
Before you go, we wanted to let you know that our pin of the month is currently available!
在节目结束前，我们想告诉大家月度优惠码现在可用啦！
This month, it’s celebrating Explorer 1, the first satellite the U.S. ever launched into space!
这个月在庆祝探索者1号，这是美国发送到太空里的第一颗卫星！
We’ve come so far. The pin is pretty rad, but it’s only available during the month of January — so if you want one, you’ve only got a couple weeks left.
我们已经走了这么远的路。这个优惠码可用持续一段时间，但是只有1月可用——所以如果大家想用的话，温馨提示还有几周时间哦。
To check it out, you can go to DFTBA.com/scishow or find the pin in the merch shelf below.
要查询优惠码，可戳DFTBA.com/scishow，也可以看下方描述。
Thanks
谢谢大家！
