小行星“本努”正把岩石抛向太空，美国宇航局也不知道原因

小行星“本努”正把岩石抛向太空，美国宇航局也不知道原因

An enormous asteroid that could one day hit Earth in a devastating impact is mysteriously spitting out rocks.

一颗巨大的小行星正在神秘地吐出岩石，这颗小行星有一天可能会对地球造成毁灭性的打击。

So-called “doomsday” asteroid Bennu is ejecting meter-sized “particles” into space — and NASA is baffled.

所谓的“世界末日”小行星——本努——正在向太空喷射一米大小的“粒子”，这让美国宇航局感到困惑。

Bennu has achieved infamy after being declared a “hazardous object” by astronomers.

本努在被天文学家宣布为“危险物体”后声名狼藉。

The 1,600-foot asteroid could smash into Earth on several different dates, in an event akin to all-out nuclear war.

这颗1600英尺的小行星可能在几个不同的日期撞击地球，这一事件类似于全面的核战争。

Late last year’s NASA’s Osirix-Rex probe arrived at Bennu and began circling it, relaying images and data to space scientists.

去年年底，美国国家航空航天局的Osirix-Rex探测器抵达本奴并开始环绕它，向太空科学家传送图像和数据。

And researchers made an unexpected discovery: Bennu was occasionally “discharging” large chunks of material into space.

研究人员有了一个意想不到的发现:本奴偶尔会向太空“发射”大块物质。

These particles then either briefly orbited Bennu and fell back onto its surface — or escaped into space.

这些粒子要么短暂地围绕着本奴旋转，然后落回它的表面——要么逃逸到太空中。

“No one has ever seen an active asteroid up close like this,” said Carl Hergenrother, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, speaking to Wired.

亚利桑那大学的天文学家卡尔·赫根罗特在接受《连线》杂志采访时表示:“从来没有人在这么近的距离看到过如此活跃的小行星。”

“It wasn’t that long ago that the conventional wisdom was that asteroids are these dead bodies that didn’t change very much.”

“就在不久之前，人们还普遍认为，小行星就是些没有多大变化的尸体。”

Some of the chunks of material were traveling at 10 feet per second and were blasted out during “ejection events.”

一些大块的物质以每秒10英尺的速度移动，并在“弹射事件”中爆炸出来。

The largest of these events took place on January 6 and saw 200 separate chunks ejected.

其中最大的一次发生在1月6日，有200个板块被抛出。

“Among Bennu’s many surprises, the particle ejections sparked our curiosity and we’ve spent the last several months investigating this mystery,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

图森市亚利桑那大学的奥西里斯-雷克斯首席研究员丹蒂·洛雷塔说:“在本努的众多惊喜中，粒子喷射激起了我们的好奇心，我们花了几个月的时间来研究这个谜。”

“This is a great opportunity to expand our knowledge of how asteroids behave.”

“这是一个扩展我们对小行星如何运行的知识的好机会。”

Scientists have several theories about what could be causing the ejection events.

科学家们有几种理论可以解释是什么导致了这次喷射事件。

It’s possible that meteoroids are striking Bennu, blasting material up into space.

可能是流星撞击了本奴星，将物质抛向太空。

Further examinations should reveal the truth.

进一步的检查应该揭示真相。

Importantly, the Osiris-Rex probe is also due to land on Bennu in 2023, to scoop up samples ahead of its return to Earth.

重要的是，欧西里斯-雷克斯探测器也将于2023年登陆本奴，在返回地球之前采集样本。

The other good news is that although Bennu could hit us, it’s unlikely.

另一个好消息是，虽然本努可以攻击我们，但不太可能。

“The possibility of Bennu hitting Earth is very low (1 in 3000) and if it does, it will be in 150-200 years time,” said Dr. Robin Smith, a physicist at Sheffield Hallam University, speaking to The Sun earlier this year.

今年早些时候，谢菲尔德哈勒姆大学的物理学家罗宾·史密斯博士在接受《太阳报》采访时说:“‘本奴’撞击地球的可能性很小(3000分之一)，如果真的发生，那将是150-200年后的事了。”

And by then, it’s possible that we’ll have put into place a sci-fi asteroid-blasting weapon to save us from certain doom.

到那时，我们很可能已经安装了一个科幻的小行星爆炸武器来拯救我们免于厄运。

However, an impact by Bennu would be devastating for Earth if it happened.

然而，如果本奴的撞击真的发生，对地球来说将是毁灭性的。