BBC News: 美国加州夜空现神秘光点 或为日本太空垃圾
美国加州夜空现神秘光点 或为日本太空垃圾
Mysterious streaks of light were seen in the sky in the Sacramento area Friday night, shocking St. Patrick’s Day revelers who then posted videos on social media of the surprising sight.
当地时间17日晚上在美国加州萨克拉门托地区的天空中出现了神秘的流光，震惊了圣帕特里克节的狂欢者，他们随后在社交媒体上发布了这一惊人景象的视频。
Jaime Hernandez was at the King Cong Brewing Company in Sacramento for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration when some among the group noticed the lights.
目击者海梅•埃尔南德斯当时正在萨克拉门托的King Cong 酿酒厂参加圣帕特里克节的庆祝活动，当时人群中有人注意到了这些光点。
Hernandez quickly began filming.
埃尔南德斯迅速开始拍摄。
It was over in about 40 seconds, he said on Saturday.
他周六（3月18日）说，这个神秘现象持续了40秒左右。
The brewery owner posted Hernandez’s video to Instagram, asking if anyone could solve the mystery.
酿酒厂老板将埃尔南德斯的视频发布到社交媒体上，询问是否有人能解开这个谜团。
Jonathan McDowell says he can.
乔纳森-麦克道尔说他可以。
McDowell is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
他是哈佛-史密森天体物理学中心的一名天文学家。
McDowell said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press that he’s 99.9% confident the streaks of light were from burning space debris.
麦克道尔周六（3月18日）在接受采访时说，这串神秘光点“有99.9%的可能”系太空垃圾燃烧所致。
McDowell said that a Japanese communications package that relayed information from the International Space Station to a communications satellite and then back to Earth became obsolete in 2017 when the satellite was retired.
麦克道尔说，2017年当国际空间站的通信卫星退役时，日本的一个将信息从国际空间站传送给该通信卫星的装置也被废弃了。
The equipment, weighing 310 kilograms, was jettisoned from the space station in 2020 because it was taking up valuable space and would burn up completely upon reentry, McDowell added.
麦克道尔补充说，这套设备重达310公斤，于2020年被从空间站丢弃，因为它占用了宝贵的空间，并且在重返大气层时将完全燃尽。
The flaming bits of wreckage created a “spectacular light show in the sky,” McDowell said. He estimated the debris was about 40 miles high, going thousands of miles per hour.
麦克道尔介绍，这些燃烧的太空垃圾在天空中形成了 "壮观的灯光秀"。他估计这些残骸大约有40英里（64千米）高，以每小时数千英里的速度运行。
The U.S. Space Force confirmed the re-entry path over California for the Inter-Orbit Communication System, and the timing is consistent with what people saw in the sky, he added.
他补充说，美国太空军证实这个通信装置重返地球时会途经加州上空，时间也与加州出现的神秘光点吻合。
