超级计算机扫描“整个天空”，以寻找外星人的迹象

超级计算机扫描“整个天空”，以寻找外星人的迹象

Scientists are ramping up their efforts in the search for signs of alien life.

科学家们正加紧努力寻找外星生命的迹象。

Experts at the SETI Institute, an organization dedicated to tracking extraterrestrial intelligence, are developing state-of-the-art techniques to detect signatures from space that indicate the possibility of extraterrestrial existence.

SETI研究所是一个致力于追踪外星智能的组织，该研究所的专家们正在开发最先进的技术来探测来自太空的信号，这些信号表明了外星人存在的可能性。

These so-called “technosignatures” can range from the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere, to laser emissions, to structures orbiting other stars, among others, they said.

他们说，这些所谓的“技术特征”包括从行星大气的化学成分到激光发射，再到环绕其他恒星的结构等等。

Dr. Tony Beasley, director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) telescope based in Virginia said: “Determining whether we are alone in the universe as technologically capable life is among the most compelling questions in science.”

位于弗吉尼亚州的美国国家射电天文台(NRAO)望远镜主任托尼·比斯利博士说:“科学中最引人注目的问题之一是，要确定我们是否在宇宙中独自存在着具有技术能力的生命。”

SETI scientists plan to develop a system that will “piggyback” on the Very Large Array (VLA) telescope based in Mexico and provide data to their technosignature search system.

SETI的科学家们计划开发一个系统，该系统将“搭载”位于墨西哥的甚大阵列(VLA)望远镜，为他们的技术签名搜索系统提供数据。

Beasley added: “As the VLA conducts its usual scientific observations, this new system will allow for an additional and important use for the data we’re already collecting.”

Beasley补充道:“当VLA进行它通常的科学观测时，这个新系统将允许我们对已经收集的数据进行额外的和重要的使用。”

Life forms, whether intelligent or not, can produce detectable indicators such as large amounts of oxygen, smaller amounts of methane, and a variety of other chemicals, the experts said.

专家说，生命形式，无论是否智能，都可以产生可检测的指标，如大量的氧气，少量的甲烷，以及各种其他化学物质。

So in addition, scientists are also developing computer models to simulate extraterrestrial environments that can help support future searches for habitable planets and life beyond the solar system.

因此，除此之外，科学家们还在开发模拟外星环境的计算机模型，以帮助支持未来对可居住行星和太阳系外生命的探索。

Victoria Meadows, principal investigator for Nasa’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory at the University of Washington, which studies to detect exoplanetary habitability, said: “Upcoming telescopes in space and on the ground will have the capability to observe the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby cool stars, so it’s important to understand how best to recognize signs of habitability and life on these planets.

维多利亚草地,首席研究员为Nasa的虚拟行星华盛顿大学的实验室,研究探测地外可居住,说:“即将在太空望远镜和地面将有能力观察附近地球般大小的行星的大气层很酷的明星,所以重要的是要了解如何识别可居住的迹象,这些行星上的生命。

“These computer models will help us determine whether an observed planet is more or less likely to support life.”

“这些计算机模型将帮助我们确定一个被观测到的行星是否更有可能支持生命。”

Meanwhile, SETI’s Breakthrough Listen Initiative, which launched in 2015 to “listen” for signals of alien life, has released nearly two petabytes of data from the most comprehensive survey yet of radio emissions from the plane of the Milky Way galaxy and the region around its central black hole.

与此同时，SETI于2015年启动的“倾听”计划(Breakthrough Listen Initiative)——旨在“倾听”外星生命的信号——已经发布了近两拍字节的数据，这些数据来自迄今为止最全面的一次调查，调查内容是关于银河系平面及其中心黑洞周围区域的无线电辐射。

The organization is now inviting the public to search the data, gathered from various telescopes around the world, and look for signals from intelligent civilizations.

该组织现在邀请公众来搜索这些数据，这些数据来自世界各地的望远镜，寻找来自智慧文明的信号。

Yuri Milner, an entrepreneur and founder of the Breakthrough initiative, said: “For the whole of human history, we had a limited amount of data to search for life beyond Earth.

尤里·米尔纳(Yuri Milner)是一名企业家，也是“突破计划”(Breakthrough initiative)的创始人。

“So, all we could do was speculate.

“所以，我们只能猜测。

“Now, as we are getting a lot of data, we can do real science and, with making this data available to general public, so can anyone who wants to know the answer to this deep question.”

“现在，随着我们获得大量数据，我们可以进行真正的科学研究，通过向公众提供这些数据，任何人都可以知道这个深奥问题的答案。”