人類首次“看到”引力波 終於找到金子的源頭了

On Monday, scientists who won a Nobel Prize for their discovery of gravitational waves announced the first detection of the collision of two neutron stars.

10月16日，因發現引力波而獲得諾貝爾獎的科學家團隊宣佈，他們首次探測到了中子星合併。

Astronomers detected the merger from 130 million light-years away, in the galaxy NGC 4993, on the morning of August 17.

天文學家在8月17日晨間觀測到的此次合併來自1.3億光年之外的NGC 4993星系。

The team alerted astronomers all over the world to the event right after it happened, helping them point telescopes directly at the scene of the crash.

在探測到這一天文事件後，科學家團隊提醒全球的天文學家觀測這一現象，幫助他們把望遠鏡對準合併現場。

The collision created the first observed instance of a single source emitting ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, as well as light, which was released in the form of a two-second gamma ray burst.

通過這次合併，科學家首次觀測到太空中單源發射的引力波，並觀測到了以兩秒鐘的伽馬射線暴形式釋放出的可見光。

It is being hailed as the first known instance of multi-messenger astrophysics: one source in the universe emitting two kinds of waves, gravitational and electromagnetic.

這預示着天體物理學首次進入多信使階段：宇宙中的同一來源發射出兩種形式的波，引力波和電磁波。

These images revealed a radioactive soup giving birth to unfathomable amounts of platinum, gold, and silver — not to mention elements like the iodine found in our bodies, the uranium in nuclear weapons, and the bismuth in Pepto-Bismol — while shooting those materials deep into space.

觀測圖像顯示出了兩個中子星的放射性碰撞場景，而這也產生了數量龐大的鉑、金和銀，以及我們身體中的碘、核武器中的鈾、可以減輕腸胃不適的鉍。中子星合併將這些物質四散進宇宙深處。

The two neutron stars most likely merged to form a black hole, though the tiny bit of neutron star that escaped — and formed new elements — could get recycled into planets like Earth where aliens may eventually dig up the metals as we have.

兩個中子星最可能合併成一個黑洞，但合併中四散出的碎塊會形成新的元素，循環進入類似地球的星體，也許外星人正像我們一樣挖掘這些金屬礦藏。

Gravitational waves were first directly detected two years ago, proving Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, and recently, three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on that first detection. Those gravitational waves were the result of two black holes colliding, and the signal lasted for only a fraction of a second. Because black holes don't emit light, these waves were invisible and only "heard" as thumps.

引力波於兩年前首次被發現，證實了愛因斯坦的廣義相對論。最近，三位科學家因首次探測到引力波被授予諾貝爾物理學獎。他們成功探測到來自於兩個黑洞合併的引力波信號，信號僅持續幾毫秒。因爲黑洞並不發射出光，因此引力波不可見，只能以急速跳動的形式被“聽到”。

1. For the first time, telescopes and gravitational wave observatories together witnessed the same astronomical event.

這是人類歷史上第一次使用電磁波望遠鏡和引力波天文臺同時觀測到同一個天體物理事件。

2. This is the first time gravitational waves from the merger of binary neutron stars have been observed.

這是首次觀測到雙中子星合併產生出引力波。

3. This observation is the first to definitively identify binary neutron star collisions as a source of short gamma-ray bursts. Theorized for many years, this is the first direct link between those phenomena.

這次觀測首次爲中子星合併可產生伽馬射線短暴給予了確鑿證據。這一理論已有多年曆史，而此次觀測首次證實了這兩種現象之間有直接聯繫。

4. This discovery is the first verification of a "kilonova" explosion, confirming binary neutron star collisions as one source for the universe's heaviest elements, such as gold and uranium.

這次發現首次證實了“千新星”爆炸，確認了雙中子星合併是宇宙中最重的元素的來源之一，比如金和鈾。

5. This is the first binary neutron star pair confirmed outside of our own Milky Way galaxy, and this is the closest to Earth that astronomers have seen a gamma ray burst.

這是銀河系外首次得以證實的一對中子星，也是天文學家觀測到伽馬射線暴距離地球最近的一次。

6. The gravitational wave signals from GW170817 have enabled scientists to measure the expansion rate of the universe in a completely new way.

來自此次GW170817觀測的引力波使科學家可以用全新的方式測量宇宙的膨脹率。

7. The partnership between LIGO and Italy-based Virgo allowed telescopes to rapidly turn their attention towards the area of sky where the neutron stars collided.

激光干涉引力波天文臺（LIGO）和意大利的處女座引力波探測器（Virgo）讓無數望遠鏡迅速調轉方向，對準這一片天空，觀測兩個中子星合併。

8. This event presents the strongest evidence to date for the detection of a gamma-ray burst off-axis, which means the cone emission from the explosion is not pointed directly at Earth.

此次觀測爲伽馬射線暴軸偏移提供了有史以來最強有力的證據，也就是說伽馬射線暴產生的錐狀發射不是直接對準地球的。

9. The gravitational waves and light waves arrived within seconds of each other, suggesting they may travel at the same speed and confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein. The difference in detection time is likely a reflection of what happens during the explosion process.

引力波和光波到達地球的時間相差只有幾秒鐘，這意味着兩者傳播速度一樣，證實了愛因斯坦的猜想。探測時間的差異很可能反映出合併過程中發生了什麼。

10. Only gravitational wave observatories can directly detect unexploded binary neutron stars outside of our local galactic neighborhood, or directly observe the stars pre-collison, albeit only briefly before impact.

只有引力波天文臺能夠探測到銀河系外未爆炸的雙中子星，或者直接觀測合併前的雙中子星，不過只是在合併或爆炸前很短的時間內。