HD 131399Ab orbits the system's brightest star, HD 131399A, at a distance of about 7.6 billion miles. That's roughly 82 times the average distance from the Earth to the sun ― and, according to the astronomers behind the discovery, the widest orbit ever seen for a planet in a triple-star system.
HD 131399Ab繞行的星球是其星系中最亮的一顆——HD 131399A行星,兩者之間的距離大概是76億英里.這一距離大約是地日平均距離的82倍,并且,發(fā)現(xiàn)該行星的天文學(xué)家稱,HD 131399Ab星球的繞行軌道在三星星系中是最寬的.
The other two stars in the system, HD 131399B and HD 131399C, twirl around each other as they orbit HD 131399A at a distance that's 300 to 400 times greater than the distance from the Earth to the sun.
這一星系中另外兩顆行星,HD 131399B行星 和 HD 131399C行星在繞行HD 131399A行星的同時(shí)互繞旋轉(zhuǎn),它們繞行的距離則是地日距離的300至400倍.
The newfound planet was discovered using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. The ESO is supported by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland Chile and the United Kingdom. Researchers published a paper on their findings Thursday in the journal Science.
發(fā)現(xiàn)HD 131399Ab行星的天文望遠(yuǎn)鏡是位于智利北部的歐南臺(tái)巨大望遠(yuǎn)鏡陣列.歐南臺(tái)是由澳大利亞、比利時(shí)、巴西、捷克共和國(guó)、丹麥、法國(guó)、芬蘭、德國(guó)、意大利、荷蘭、波蘭、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典、瑞士、智利和英國(guó)這些國(guó)家聯(lián)合創(chuàng)辦的.研究人員周四在《科學(xué)》雜志上發(fā)表文章闡述他們的新發(fā)現(xiàn).
Kevin Wagner, a University of Arizona Ph.D. student and the paper's lead author, told The Huffington Post in an email that the system's configuration is "surprising and extreme."
凱文·瓦格納是亞利桑那州一所大學(xué)的博士研究生,他是這篇文章的第一作者,他在電郵中告訴《赫芬頓郵報(bào)》的記者,新行星所在的星系結(jié)構(gòu)令人嘆為觀止.
It's also a bit precarious.
但這顆行星同時(shí)也潛伏著危機(jī).
"If the planet was further away from the most massive star in the system, it would be kicked out of the system," Dr. Daniel Apai, assistant professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the university and co-author of the paper, said in a news release.
丹尼爾·阿派博士是這所大學(xué)天文與行星專業(yè)的助理教授,同時(shí)也是這篇文章的聯(lián)合作者,他在報(bào)道中稱："如果HD 131399Ab行星離星系中最大的行星再遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)的話,它就會(huì)被踢出這一星系."
"Our computer simulations have shown that this type of orbit can be stable, but if you change things around just a little bit, it can become unstable very quickly."
"我們做出的電腦模擬效果圖顯示,這一星系的運(yùn)行軌道一般來(lái)說(shuō)是穩(wěn)定的,但是一旦其周圍的物體發(fā)生變動(dòng),它就會(huì)瞬間變得不穩(wěn)定."
Stable or not, HD 131399A is fascinating to astronomers in part because it helps fill in gaps in our knowledge of how planets form and change orbit.
無(wú)論穩(wěn)定與否,HD 131399A星系對(duì)天文學(xué)家們有著巨大的吸引力,一部分是因?yàn)樗陌l(fā)現(xiàn)填補(bǔ)了我們現(xiàn)有知識(shí)的一處空白,即行星如何形成以及如何變動(dòng)軌道.
英文來(lái)源：赫芬頓郵報(bào)
