【英语时差8,16】英国天文学家,小绿人,脉冲星（上）

（单词翻译）

Last time we mentioned the time when Soviet¹ radio astronomers² went public with the most amazing find ever — they were listening in on radio signals from an alien civilization. As it turned out, what they were actually listening to was a quasar: the blazing core of a galaxy³ that can emit radio waves that fluctuate in a regular pattern. So regular, in fact, that people thought it was an alien intelligence. Well, it wasn’t. But then, in nineteen sixty-seven, British radio astronomers spotted⁴ a signal much closer to our planet that was turning on and off with unbelievable regularity⁵. Sure, the Soviets⁶ had been duped by the same kind of thing, but the exactitude with which this signal kept time was astounding⁷ — it was accurate to ten figures! It had to be a beacon⁸ of some kind. Aliens!