时差N小时:为何星星会闪烁 Why Do Stars Twinkle

If you've ever glanced skyward on a clear evening,you've probably noticed with somewonderment thesheer numbers of stars.

你是否在某个晴朗的夜晚抬头瞥见夜空后惊奇地发现满天繁星。

Some are tiny, barely visible points.

有些小到难以看见。

Others radiate strong white light.

其他一些则发出强烈的白光。

And from our earthly vantage point, these points oflight seem fixed.

从地球这一有利视角看去，这些光点似乎总是这么亮。

But, of course, stars and other celestial objects grow brighter and dimmer over time.

但是，星星和其它天体当然会随着时间的推移逐渐变得明亮或是昏暗。

Now, amassive new data set collected by astronomers at the California Institute of Technologyand theUniversity of Arizona documents the brightening and dimming of more then 200 millionheavenlybodies.

而现在，加州理工学院和亚利桑那大学的天文学家已搜集了大量数据并且记录了2亿多天体变得明亮和黯淡的过程。

The data come from images captured by a large telescope in Arizona looking for NearEarthObjects, or NEOs in other words, asteroids whose proximity to Earth could be cause foralarm.

这些数据源自于科学家在亚利桑那州用大型望远镜探测近地天体，也就是NEOs时捕捉的卫星图片，近地天体是指那些接近地球时有可能会对地球构成威胁的小行星。

Information about how celestial objects dim and brighten was a fortunate byproduct of theasteroid hunt.

有关天体如何明暗变幻的信息是科学家探测小行星时意外的收获。

And it's now proving valuable for helping astronomers and other scientistsunderstand moreabout the evolution of stars, black holes, and the structure of the Milky Way.

如今，这一收获在帮助天文学家和其他科学家深入了解恒星，黑洞和银河系的演变过程方面有重要价值。

For example, the data include information about more than 1,000 exploding stars, orsupernovas.

例如，这些数据涵盖了1千多个爆发星体，或称为超星体的信息。

Being able to observe, as it were, how supernovas play out by measuring the increasingintensityof their brightness over time, allows scientists to better understand the life and deathof stars.

的确，人们可以通过观测并对比日益变亮的超星体的亮度来弄清它们爆发的过程 ，从而进一步了解星辰的诞生和灭亡。

And that's only one example.

这只是其中的一例。

As more scientists mine the data, new discoveries about how theheavens work are sure tofollow.

随着越来越多的科学家探测相关数据，关于苍穹演变史的新发现指日可待。