NASA首次發(fā)現(xiàn)“星際沖擊”的證據(jù)

NASA首次發(fā)現(xiàn)“星際沖擊”的證據(jù)

NASA has captured a phenomenon in space that has eluded humanity for centuries — an “interplanetary shock.”

美國國家航空航天局捕捉到一種太空現(xiàn)象，這是人類幾個世紀(jì)以來都沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)的——“星際沖擊”。

Four spacecraft from the space agency, which are part of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) that launched in 2015, managed to get a view of the event in January 2018. The craft were just 12 miles away from one another, which made seeing the spectacle possible.

作為2015年發(fā)射的磁層多尺度任務(wù)(MMS)的一部分，美國宇航局的四艘宇宙飛船在2018年1月成功地觀測到了這次活動。這架飛機彼此相距僅12英里，這使得觀看這一奇觀成為可能。

“MMS was able to measure the shock thanks to its unprecedentedly fast and high-resolution instruments. One of the instruments aboard MMS is the Fast Plasma Investigation,” the space agency said in a statement on its website. “This suite of instruments can measure ions and electrons around the spacecraft at up to 6 times per second. Since the speeding shock waves can pass the spacecraft in just half a second, this high-speed sampling is essential to catching the shock.”

“由于其前所未有的快速和高分辨率儀器，MMS能夠測量沖擊。”空間局在其網(wǎng)站上的一份聲明中說“這套儀器可以每秒最多6次測量航天器周圍的離子和電子。由于高速激波可以在半秒內(nèi)通過航天器，這種高速采樣對捕捉激波至關(guān)重要。”

NASA continued: “Looking at the data from Jan. 8, the scientists noticed a clump of ions from the solar wind. Shortly after, they saw a second clump of ions, created by ions already in the area that had bounced off the shock as it passed by. Analyzing this second population, the scientists found evidence to support a theory of energy transfer first posed in the 1980s.”

NASA表示：“從1月8日的數(shù)據(jù)來看，科學(xué)家們注意到太陽風(fēng)中有一團(tuán)離子。不久之后，他們又看到了第二團(tuán)離子，這是由已經(jīng)在經(jīng)過沖擊時反彈的區(qū)域中的離子形成的。通過分析第二個群體，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)了支持能量轉(zhuǎn)移論的證據(jù)，該理論首次提出是在20世紀(jì)80年代。”

An interplanetary shock, which emanates from the sun, is a type of “collisionless shock,” where particles transfer energy through electromagnetic fields as opposed to bouncing into one another, NASA added.

來自太陽的行星際沖擊是一種“無碰撞沖擊”，粒子通過電磁場傳遞能量，而不是相互碰撞，NASA補充道。

“These collisionless shocks are a phenomenon found throughout the universe, including in supernovae, black holes and distant stars. MMS studies collisionless shocks around Earth to gain a greater understanding of shocks across the universe,” the space agency continued.

“這些無碰撞沖擊是是宇宙中普遍存在的現(xiàn)象，包括在超新星、黑洞和遙遠(yuǎn)的恒星中。MMS研究地球周圍的無碰撞沖擊，以更好地了解宇宙間的沖擊。”NASA表示。

The researchers behind the observation hope that additional instances are spotted by the MMS that will give them more detailed looks at these interplanetary shocks.

研究人員希望MMS能發(fā)現(xiàn)更多的實例，讓他們更詳細(xì)地觀察這些星際沖擊。

NASA has released a video describing the charged particles, also known as the solar wind, in greater detail.

美國宇航局發(fā)布了一段視頻，更詳細(xì)地描述了帶電粒子，也被稱為太陽風(fēng)。

The research describing the find was published in the journal JGR Space Physics.

描述這一發(fā)現(xiàn)的研究發(fā)表在JGR空間物理學(xué)雜志上。