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科学家们首次捕捉到来自太阳的冲击波

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2019年08月18日

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For the first time, scientists capture a shockwave bursting from the sun

科学家们首次捕捉到来自太阳的冲击波

The sun may be our most constant friend in the solar system, the yellow dwarf star that holds our entire solar system together.

太阳可能是我们在太阳系中最忠实的朋友,这颗黄色矮星将我们整个太阳系维系在一起。

But that doesn't mean it's always a steadying force.

但这并不意味着它总是一个稳定力。

In fact, the sun shakes things up on occasion with massive shockwaves that burst from its fiery heart and travel to the very fringes of our solar neighborhood. And, for the first time, NASA scientists have observed and recorded one shockwave's outward odyssey.

事实上,太阳有时会以巨大的冲击波震动物体,这些冲击波从它炽热的中心爆发出来,并传播到我们太阳系的边缘地带。美国宇航局的科学家们第一次观察并记录了一个冲击波向外的奥德赛。

Charged particles carried by solar winds catch up to each other and result in a shockwave. (Photo: Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab)

This particular shockwave was recorded in January 2018 by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) — a four-satellite system designed to sniff out charged particles as they move through space. NASA just released a stunning footage, calling it the "first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock."

这种特殊的冲击波是2018年1月由磁层多尺度任务(MMS)记录下来的。MMS是一个四卫星系统,设计用于探测带电粒子在太空中的运动。美国宇航局刚刚公布了一段令人震惊的视频,称其为“第一次高分辨率测量星际冲击”。

Scientists used the data to describe how these space-altering shocks are born in a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics.

科学家们在《地球物理研究空间物理学杂志》上发表的一篇论文中,用这些数据描述了这些改变空间的冲击是如何产生的。

They don't start off as shockwaves. Rather, the sun sends out streams of charged particles known as solar winds. Because these streams travel at different speeds, some particles catch up to others. And when they do, their energy is transferred through electromagnetic waves, and a shockwave is born.

它们一开始并不是冲击波。相反,太阳会释放出带电粒子流,即太阳风。因为这些流以不同的速度流动,一些粒子会赶上另一些。当它们这样做的时候,它们的能量通过电磁波传递,冲击波就产生了。

"These types of shocks are 'collisionless' because the particles involved in the shock — i.e. the solar wind particles — primarily interact with the electric and magnetic fields and not in billiard-ball-like collision with other particles," lead author Ian Cohen of Johns Hopkins University explains to Newsweek.

“这些类型的冲击是无碰撞的粒子,因为参与冲击-即太阳风粒子主要是与电场和磁场相互作用而不是与其他粒子碰撞,”主要作者约翰·霍普金斯大学的伊恩•科恩向《新闻周刊》解释。

Cohen compares the phenomenon to the shockwaves created on Earth when a supersonic jet moves faster than the speed of sound in the air.

科恩将这一现象与地球上超音速喷气式飞机以高于空气音速的速度飞行时产生的冲击波进行了比较。

When supersonic jets break the sound barrier, they create a shockwave (Photo: NASA)

Shockwaves from the sun, however, are much more difficult to detect, requiring extremely precise sensors.

然而,来自太阳的冲击波要难探测得多,需要极其精确的传感器。

Even then, it took four years for MMS satellites to capture one in all its glory.

即使在那时,MMS卫星也花了4年时间才捕捉到其中的一颗。

Our sun isn't the only source of shockwaves; distant stars and even black holes produce them, too.

我们的太阳并不是冲击波的唯一来源;遥远的恒星甚至黑洞也会产生它们。

But as the pillar of our space community, the sun impacts everything in profound ways, right down to the tiniest rock. And shockwaves, which can dramatically alter weather here on Earth, are very loud reminders that its every outburst is well worth heeding.

但作为我们太空社区的支柱,太阳对一切都有着深远的影响,甚至影响到最小的岩石。冲击波能极大地改变地球上的天气,它强烈地提醒我们注意它的每一次爆发。


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