VOA慢速英语2020 奇怪的物体可能是一颗被撕裂行星的残骸（在线收听）

A long, thin object moving through our solar system may be the remains of a planet that was pulled apart, scientists say.

科学家表示，在太阳系中移动的细长物体可能是一颗被撕裂行星的残骸。

Researchers say the planet was likely destroyed long ago when it moved either too far from or too close to the star it once orbited.

研究人员表示，这颗行星可能很早以前就被摧毁，当时这颗行星与它曾经环绕的恒星要么距离过远要么距离过近。

The object is called ‘Oumuamua, which means "messenger from afar" in the native Hawaiian language. A report on the recent findings appears in the journal Nature Astronomy.

这个物体被称为“奥陌陌”，在夏威夷土著语言中意为“来自远方的信使”。有关这一最新发现的报告发表在《自然·天文学》期刊上。

Scientists have been trying to understand more about ‘Oumuamua since its discovery in 2017. Some have even proposed it may be an alien spacecraft. In the recently published research, astronomers Yun Zhang and Douglas Lin said computer predictions suggest the object was a piece of a planet or planetary building block. The planet might have been torn apart by its star's "tidal forces."

自2017年发现“奥陌陌”以来，科学家一直试图了解它的更多信息。有些科学家甚至提出，它可能是一艘外星飞船。在最近发表的研究中，天文学家张韵和道格拉斯·林表示，计算机预测表明，这个物体是行星或行星构造块的一块碎片。这颗行星可能已被其母恒星的“潮汐力”撕裂。

‘Oumuamua is the first object from another star system found passing through our solar system. It is about 400 meters long. Its shape, strange way of moving and lack of dust and gases suggest it is not a normal comet or asteroid.

奥陌陌是在我们太阳系中发现的首个来自另一个恒星系统的物体。奥陌陌长约400米。其形状、奇怪的移动方式以及缺少尘埃和气体表明，它并不是普通的彗星或小行星。

When a smaller body passes near a much bigger one, tidal forces created by the larger body can destroy the smaller one. This is what happened when comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 came too close to the planet Jupiter in 1992.

当较小物体经过大得多的物体时，大物体产生的潮汐力可能会摧毁较小物体。这就是1992年苏梅克-列维九号彗星离木星过近时所发生的情形。

Zhang told the Reuters news agency that most planetary bodies are made of groups of rocks joined under the influence of gravity. In a way, they are similar to the sandcastles that children make at the beach, except that they are floating through space, Zhang said.

张韵对路透社表示，大多数行星体由在重力影响下聚结起来的众多岩石组成。张韵说，在某种程度上，它们与儿童在海滩上建造的沙堡类似，只不过它们漂浮在太空中。

"Their structure can be disrupted when the force acting on the individual ‘sand particle' is larger than their mutual gravity," he added.

他补充说，“当作用在单个‘沙粒’上的作用力大于它们的相互重力时，它们的结构就会被破坏。”

Zhang noted that ocean tides on Earth are affected in this way. Tides result from the gravitational pulls of the sun and moon. In space, a planetary body that comes close enough to a star falls victim to its strong gravitational pull.

张韵指出，地球上的海潮就是这样受到影响的。潮汐是日月引力的结果。在太空中，行星体离恒星足够近时会受到其强大引力的影响。

Lin is an astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He said the star that destroyed ‘Oumuamua's home world probably was one-tenth to eight-tenths of the mass of our sun. Or it might have been a rare kind of cool and dense star called a white dwarf, Lin added.

林是加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的天体物理学家。他表示，摧毁“奥陌陌”家园的那颗恒星可能是太阳质量的十分之一到十分之八。林补充说，或者它可能是一种罕见的寒冷且致密的恒星——白矮星。

The study suggests the existence of many objects formed this way.

这项研究表明，许多物体是以这种方式形成的。

"We show the possibility of panspermia carried by these objects," Zhang said. Panspermia is the hypothesized spread of microorganisms or chemicals that support life on objects moving through space.

张韵说：“我们证明了这些物体携带能够产生生命的物质（称为“有生源说”）的可能性。”有生源说假设在太空移动的物体上维系生命的微生物或化学物质四处传播。

‘Oumuamua is continuing on its path out of our solar system.

奥陌陌仍在继续其离开太阳系的路径。

Words in This Story

solar system – n. our sun and the planets that move around it

journal – n. a magazine that reports on things of special interest to a particular group of people

alien – adj. from somewhere other than the planet Earth

tidal – adj. of or relating to the regular upward and downward movement of the level of the ocean that is caused by the pull of the Sun and the Moon on the Earth

comet – n. an object in outer space that develops a long, bright tail when it passes near the sun

asteroid – n. any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun

disrupte(d) – v. to cause (something) to be unable to continue in the normal way

mutual – adj. shared between two or more people or groups

hypothesize(d) – v. to suggest an idea or theory