第一次在另一个星系发现了氧气

第一次在另一个星系发现了氧气

Oxygen has been detected outside our home galaxy the Milky Way for the first time ever.

人类首次在银河系外发现了氧气。

Molecules of oxygen have been tracked to a strange and distant galaxy millions of light-years away.

氧气分子已经被追踪到数百万光年之外的一个陌生而遥远的星系。

The oxygen was uncovered in Markarian 231, which is powered by an “extremely bright” nucleus.

这种氧气是在Markarian 231中被发现的，它是由一个“极其明亮”的原子核提供能量的。

Markarian 231 is a wild and highly volatile galaxy that we still know very little about.

Markarian 231是一个我们仍然知之甚少的狂野且高度不稳定的星系。

But the mystery galaxy now appears to support the existence of oxygen – boosting our understanding of the distant universe.

但是这个神秘的星系现在似乎支持氧气的存在——这促进了我们对遥远宇宙的了解。

“With deep observations towards Markarian 231…we detected [oxygen] emission in [an] external galaxy for the first time,” researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences wrote.

中国科学院的研究人员写道:“通过对Markarian 231的深度观测……我们首次探测到外部星系的(氧)发射。”

“The detected [oxygen] emission is located in regions about 32,615 light-years away from the center of Markarian 231. And [it] may be caused by the interaction between the active galactic nucleus-driven molecular outflow and the outer disc molecular clouds.”

“探测到的(氧气)发射位于距离马卡里恩231星系中心大约32,615光年的地方。它可能是由活跃的星系核驱动的分子外流和外盘分子云之间的相互作用造成的。”

The galaxy in question is 561 million light-years away from Earth.

该星系距离地球5.61亿光年。

Markarian 231 is a particularly active galaxy, forming new stars at a rate of over 100 masses per year.

Markarian 231是一个特别活跃的星系，它以每年超过100个质量的速度形成新的恒星。

It’s powered by a central quasar – an extremely bright “galactic nucleus.”

它由一个中央类星体提供动力——一个极其明亮的“星系核”。

That’s when a supermassive black hole with mass ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of the sun is surrounded by a gas disc. This type of galactic center produces outflows of matter.

当一个质量是太阳质量数百万到数十亿倍的超大质量黑洞被一个气体盘包围时。这种星系中心会产生物质外流。

And the researchers went on the hunt for oxygen within these outflows.

研究人员继续在这些流出物中寻找氧气。

They used the IRAM 30-metre radio telescope in Spain to observe the galaxy over four days.

他们用西班牙的IRAM 30米射电望远镜观察了四天的银河系。

Oxygen has previously been found in the Orion nebula, within our home galaxy.

在我们的银河系中，猎户座星云已经发现了氧气。

But scientists found that Markarian 231’s oxygen abundance (compared to hydrogen) is 100 times higher than in the Orion galaxy.

但科学家们发现，Markarian 231的氧丰度(与氢相比)是猎户座星系的100倍。

Now other teams of scientists will work to verify the results as proof of oxygen.

现在，其他科学家团队将努力验证这一结果，作为氧气存在的证据。

If confirmed, we can learn much more about how galaxies like Markarian 231 work.

如果得到证实，我们可以更多地了解像Markarian 231这样的星系是如何工作的。

Does the discovery of oxygen mean we’ve found evidence of alien life? Not by a long shot.

氧气的发现是否意味着我们发现了外星生命的证据?一点也不。

We know that oxygen is essential to life on Earth, but it isn’t proof that life exists.

我们知道氧气对地球上的生命是必不可少的，但这并不是生命存在的证据。

And it’s possible that alien lifeforms might not even require oxygen to live.

有可能外星生命甚至不需要氧气来生存。

However, it’s still a positive sign that other parts of our universe could potentially support life like our own.

然而，这仍然是一个积极的信号，我们宇宙的其他部分可能支持像我们这样的生命。

Sadly for alien hunters, this is far from proof of life on other worlds.

可悲的是，对于外星猎人来说，这远不是其他星球上有生命的证据。

The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal.

这项研究发表在《天体物理学杂志》上。