我们刚刚得到银河系年龄的最新估计

我们刚刚得到银河系年龄的最新估计

Like many other spiral galaxies in the Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy consists of two disk-like structures – the thin disk and the thick disk. The thick disk, which envelopes the thin disk, contains about 20 percent of the Milky Way's stars and is thought to be the older of the pair based on the composition of its stars (which have greater metallicity) and its puffier nature.

像宇宙中许多其他螺旋星系一样，银河系由两个盘状结构组成——薄圆盘和厚圆盘。这个厚厚的圆盘包裹着这个薄薄的圆盘，它包含了银河系大约20%的恒星，根据它的恒星组成(有更大的金属丰度)和膨胀的性质，它被认为是这对恒星中较老的一个。

However, in a recent study, a team of 38 scientists led by researchers from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO-3D) used data from the now-retired Kepler mission to measure starquakes in the Milky Way's disk.

然而，在最近的一项研究中，一个由澳大利亚ARC卓越中心(ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three - Dimensions)的研究人员领导的38名科学家组成的团队，使用了现已退役的开普勒(Kepler)任务的数据来测量银河系圆盘上的星震。

From this, they have revised the official estimates on the age of the Milky Way's thick disk, which they conclude is around 10 billion years old.

据此，他们修正了官方对银河系厚盘年龄的估计，他们得出的结论是它大约有100亿年的历史。

The study which describes their findings – titled "The K2-HERMES Survey: age and metallicity of the thick disc" – recently appeared in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The research team was led by Dr. Sanjib Sharma of the Sydney Institute for Astronomy and the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO-3D) and included members from multiple universities and research institutes.

这项研究描述了他们的发现——标题为“k2 -赫尔墨斯调查:厚盘的年龄和金属丰度”——最近发表在《皇家天文学会月刊》上。该研究小组由悉尼天文研究所和ARC三维天体物理学卓越中心的Sanjib Sharma博士领导，成员来自多个大学和研究机构。

To determine the age of the thick disk, Dr. Sharma and his team employed a method known as asteroseismology. This consists of measuring a star's oscillations caused by starquakes, where the crusts of stars undergo sudden shifts similar to Earthquakes.

为了确定厚圆盘的年龄，Sharma博士和他的团队采用了一种被称为星震学的方法。这包括测量由恒星地震引起的恒星振动，恒星的外壳经历类似于地震的突然转变。

This process allows researchers to conduct "galactic-archaeology", where they are able to look back in time to the formation of the Milky Way (over 13 billion years ago).

这个过程使研究人员能够进行“银河考古学”，在那里他们能够回顾银河系形成的时间(超过130亿年前)。

As Dennis Stello – an associate professor at the University of New South Wales and a co-author on the study – explained, this allowed them to determine a star's internal structures:

正如新南威尔士大学副教授、该研究的合著者丹尼斯·斯泰罗解释的那样，这使得他们能够确定恒星的内部结构:

The quakes generate soundwaves inside the stars that make them ring, or vibrate. The frequencies produced tell us things about the stars' internal properties, including their age. It's a bit like identifying a violin as a Stradivarius by listening to the sound it makes.

“地震在恒星内部产生声波，使它们发出声音，或者振动。产生的频率告诉我们恒星的内部属性，包括它们的年龄。这有点像通过听小提琴发出的声音来辨别它是不是斯特拉迪瓦里琴。”

It is important to note that astronomers are not able to detect actual "sounds" generated by stars. Instead, movements within a star's interior are measured based on changes in a star's brightness.

需要注意的是，天文学家无法探测到恒星发出的实际“声音”。相反，恒星内部的运动是根据恒星亮度的变化来测量的。