科学家认为他们在太空中发现了一种全新类型的天体 — — 并且它正向我们喷射出放射性物质。
Scientists think they have discovered an entirely new type of object in space – and it’s spat something radioactive right at us.
但如果你问西班牙赫恩大学的天文学家约瑟夫·马蒂，这实际上是件好事。
But if you ask Josep Martí, an astronomer at the University of Jaén in Spain, this is very much a good thing.
这种由等离子体 — — 物质的第四态 — — 组成的黏稠物质，可能正是马蒂一直在寻找的、长期被理论化的“微类星体”证据。
The goo, made of plasma – the fourth state of matter – could be the proof Martí has been looking for of a long-theorised ‘microblazar’.
常规类星体是一种类星体：位于星系中心的巨型黑洞，像挤牙膏一样将物质压缩成燃烧的喷流。
Regular blazars are a type of quasar: monstrous black holes at the centre of galaxies that squeeze matter out like toothpaste into a fiery jet.
微类星体则是同样的现象，但规模要小得多，马蒂在一篇被《天体物理学与天文学》期刊接受发表的研究中这样写道。
A microblazar is the same thing, but on a much smaller scale, Martí writes in a study accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
“我一直对大自然在截然不同的尺度上自我模仿的方式印象深刻，”他对《都市报》说。
‘I have always been impressed by how Mother Nature mimics itself at very different scales,’ he tells Metro.
“这某种程度上让我想起了太阳系与原子核周围电子轨道之间的类比。”我们有什么需要担心的吗？
‘Somehow, it reminds me of the analogy between the solar system and the electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom.’Do we have anything to worry about?
束缚这种黏稠物质的是IRAS 18293−0941，一个恒星级黑洞，或者说是由坍缩恒星形成的宇宙“饥饿河马”。
What’s holding this slime bucket is IRAS 18293−0941, a stellar black hole, or a cosmic hungry-hungry hippo formed out of a collapsed star.
这个黑洞正围绕着一颗巨大而炽热的恒星运行，它不断吞噬该恒星的物质，并将其喷射为两股剧烈的火焰能量流。这与科学家对微类星体的假设相吻合。
The black hole orbits a giant, hot star, which it constantly nibbles on and spits out as two violent jets of fiery energy. This tracks with what scientists believe a microblazar could be.
“微类星体确实有喷流，但它们由质量较小的黑洞驱动，质量大约是太阳的10倍，”马蒂说。
‘Microquasars have jets, but they are powered by small black holes with a modest mass of about 10 times that of our Sun,’ Martí says.
“在微类星体中，黑洞的‘进食’来源于其单个恒星伴星轨道上捕获的物质。
‘In microquasars, the black hole feeding comes from matter captured from a single stellar companion orbiting the black hole.
‘当这些喷流恰好朝向我们的视线方向时，这些系统分别被称为类星体和微类星体。’马蒂及其团队发现，其中一次愤怒的喷流正直接朝着地球方向，以大约光速的75%飞行而来。
‘When, by chance, the jets are pointing close to our line of sight, these systems are known as blazars and microblazars, respectively.’One of these angry flares is aimed straight at Earth, Martí and his team found, travelling at about 75% of the speed of light.
‘关于可能的担忧，请保持冷静。完全不需要担心。这些天体距离我们非常、非常远，’马蒂说。
‘Concerning possible worries, please stay calm. None at all. These objects are very, very far away,’ Martí says.
他并不是在开玩笑。微耀星位于我们的银河系内，距离地球约12000光年，或者说约70500500400000000英里。然而，如果地球真的落入微耀星的射线范围，情况就不会好了。“我们将经历辐射效应的显著增加，”马蒂说。“根据距离和穿越时间，电子设备和生物可能会遭受负面影响。
He’s not kidding. The microblazar is in our galaxy and about 12,000 light-years from Earth, or about 70,500,500,400,000,000 miles. However, if Earth were to be caught in the microblazar’s firing line, it wouldn’t be pretty. ‘We would experience a significant increase in radiation effects,’ Martí says. ‘Depending on distance and crossing time, electronic devices and living beings could suffer negative consequences.
“然而，这并不是一个现实的假设，也不存在此类风险。人类还有许多其他问题需要担心。”尽管IRAS 18293−0941是在1983年被发现的，但厚厚的尘埃遮蔽使其在地面望远镜前几乎不可见。
‘However, this is not a realistic hypothesis and no risk of this kind exists. Humankind has many other problems to worry about.’Although IRAS 18293−0941 was discovered in 1983, a thick veil of dust makes it practically invisible to Earthly telescopes.
为了观测IRAS 18293-0941，研究作者们使用了相当于瑞士军刀般丰富的档案数据和望远镜，其中包括西班牙的卡拉阿托天文台和南非的MeerKAT射电望远镜阵列。
To observe IRAS 18293-0941, the study authors used a Swiss Army Knife’s worth of archival data and telescopes, including the Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory in Spain and the MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa.
如果一个双星系统，或者说一对围绕彼此旋转的恒星，大小恰好合适，它们可能最终会演变成微耀星。
If a binary star system, or a pair of stars that dance around one another, is just the right size, they might wind up as a microblazar.
它们在宇宙尺度上不会存在很长时间——仅仅10万年左右——因此马蒂说，能够发现一颗几乎是偶然的。
They don’t last very long at cosmic scales – a mere 100,000 or so years – so Martí says it was almost a fluke that they managed to spot one.
伦敦大学学院理论天体物理学家金瓦·吴（未参与此研究）表示，发现微耀星是一件大事。
Kinwah Wu, a theoretical astrophysicist at University College London who was not involved in the research, says finding a microblazar is a big deal.
“我们可以利用它们来研究天体物理学和物理学中的许多基本过程和最极端过程，”她对《都会报》说。
‘We can use them to study a lot of fundamental and most extreme processes in astrophysics and physics,’ she tells Metro.
吴教授表示，这可能包括研究粒子如何以接近光速的速度运动，或者它们是否是轰击地球的高能宇宙射线的来源。“它们是我们银河系内罕见而强大的来源，”她补充道。
Professor Wu says this could include how particles move at breakneck speeds, or if they’re a source of the energetic cosmic rays showering Earth. ‘They are rare, powerful sources within our own galaxy,’ she adds.
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