4000系外行星
(原标题: 4000 Exoplanets)
2022-08-14
浏览次数: 14
目前已知有超过4000颗行星存在于太阳系之外。据美国宇航局的系外行星档案记录，这个被称为系外行星的里程碑是上个月通过的。这段特色视频以声音和光线的方式突出了这些系外行星，从1992年首次确认的探测开始，按时间顺序一直持续到2019年。整个夜空首先被我们银河系的中央带压缩，形成了一个巨大的u。系外行星被母星颜色的轻微波动（径向速度）所探测到，显示为粉红色，而那些被母星亮度轻微下降（凌日）所探测到的，显示为紫色。此外，直接拍摄的系外行星显示为橙色，而通过引力放大背景恒星的光（微透镜）探测到的系外行星显示为绿色。行星绕其母恒星运行的速度越快，伴随的音调就越高。退役的开普勒卫星已经在天空的一个区域发现了首批4000颗系外行星中的大约一半，而TESS任务正在寻找更多的系外行星，它们遍布天空，围绕着附近最亮的恒星运行。寻找系外行星不仅有助于人类更好地了解宇宙中其他地方存在生命的可能性，还有助于了解我们的地球和太阳系是如何形成的。
查看原文解释
Over 4000 planets are now known to exist outside our Solar System. Known as exoplanets, this milestone was passed last month, as recorded by NASA's Exoplanet Archive. The featured video highlights these exoplanets in sound and light, starting chronologically from the first confirmed detection in 1992 and continuing into 2019. The entire night sky is first shown compressed with the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy making a giant U. Exoplanets detected by slight jiggles in their parents-star's colors (radial velocity) appear in pink, while those detected by slight dips in their parent star's brightness (transit) are shown in purple. Further, those exoplanets imaged directly appear in orange, while those detected by gravitationally magnifying the light of a background star (microlensing) are shown in green. The faster a planet orbits its parent star, the higher the accompanying tone played. The retired Kepler satellite has discovered about half of these first 4000 exoplanets in just one region of the sky, while the TESS mission is on track to find even more, all over the sky, orbiting the brightest nearby stars. Finding exoplanets not only helps humanity to better understand the potential prevalence of life elsewhere in the universe, but also how our Earth and Solar System were formed.