令人难以置信的照片：一颗恒星吞噬另一颗恒星的非凡后果

令人难以置信的照片：一颗恒星吞噬另一颗恒星的非凡后果

A dramatic encounter between two stars has strewn their remains out across their little corner of space in the most spectacular fashion - and we get to actually see it with our own eyes.

两颗恒星之间的戏剧性相遇，以最壮观的方式将他们的遗体撒满了对方的小角落——我们可以亲眼目睹。

Here's how it went down: As a dying star expanded into a red giant, it engulfed another, lower mass star. The latter started to spiral towards the red giant, causing it to throw off its outer layers prematurely, and bringing its evolution to a halt.

它是这样下去的:当一颗垂死的恒星膨胀成一颗红巨星时，它吞没了另一颗质量较低的恒星。后者开始向红巨星旋转，导致它过早地脱离其外层，并使其进化停止。

The result? A complex cloud of gas that has perplexed astronomers for decades. Now, using the powerful capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the secrets of the star system HD 101584 have come to light.

结果呢?一团复杂的气体云困扰了天文学家几十年。现在，利用阿塔卡马大型毫米/亚毫米阵列(ALMA)的强大功能，HD 101584恒星系统的秘密已经曝光。

Stars that are roughly the mass of our Sun have a known evolutionary path. When they have fused all the hydrogen in their cores to helium, the nuclear fusion within ceases, and the core starts to contract. This brings more hydrogen into the region immediately around the core, forming a hydrogen shell; then, fusion starts up again, dumping helium into the core. This is called hydrogen shell burning.

与太阳质量相当的恒星有一条已知的进化路径。当它们将核心中的所有氢熔合成氦时，内部的核聚变就停止了，核心开始收缩。这使得更多的氢进入了核心附近的区域，形成了一个氢壳层;然后，核聚变又开始了，将氦倾倒到核中。这叫做氢燃烧。

During this time, the outer layers of the star expand by a lot. When this eventually happens to the Sun, for example, it will expand out past the orbit of Mars. This is the red giant branch of stellar evolution.

在这段时间里，恒星的外层会扩张很多。例如，当这最终发生在太阳上时，它会扩张到火星轨道之外。这是恒星演化的红巨星分支。

When all the hydrogen has been fused, the star will start fusing helium. And when all the helium in the core has fused into oxygen and carbon, the core contracts again, and the star will start expanding again. This is the asymptotic giant branch.

当所有的氢都融合后，恒星将开始融合氦。当所有的氦在核心中融合成氧和碳时，核心再次收缩，恒星将再次开始膨胀。这是渐近的巨大分支。

The research has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

这项研究发表在《天文学与天体物理学》杂志上。