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原文:
Does the closest star to our Sun have planets? No one is sure — but you can now follow frequent updates of a new search that is taking place during the first few months of this year. The closest star, Proxima Centauri, is the nearest member of the Alpha Centauri star system. Light takes only 4.24 years to reach us from Proxima Centauri. This small red star, captured in the center of the featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope, is so faint that it was only discovered in 1915 and is only visible through a telescope. Telescope-created X-shaped diffraction spikes surround Proxima Centauri, while several stars further out in our Milky Way Galaxy are visible in the background. The brightest star in the Alpha Centauri system is quite similar to our Sun, has been known as long as recorded history, and is the third brightest star in the night sky. The Alpha Centauri system is primarily visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. Starting last week, the European Southern Observatory’s Pale Red Dot project began investigating slight changes in Proxima Centauri to see if they result from a planet — possibly an Earth-sized planet. Although unlikely, were a modern civilization found living on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, its proximity makes it a reasonable possibility that humanity could communicate with them. #PaleRedDot : Follow the search for planets around Proxima Centauri.
中文翻譯:
最近有關於我們最近的恆星 – 比鄰星 (Proxima Centauri) 的新消息！不久前的調查顯示，很有可能比鄰星周圍存在行星，尤其是類地行星。比鄰星是阿爾法半人馬星系 (Alpha Centauri) 的最近成員，距離我們僅有4.24光年。這顆小型紅星於1915年才被發現，光芒不及其他星星，只能透過望遠鏡觀察到。在這張由哈勃太空望遠鏡拍攝的圖片中，你會看到比鄰星被X形的衍射尖刺包圍，背景還有其他銀河系的星星。
阿爾法半人馬系統中最亮的恆星與我們的太陽相似，長久以來在記錄歷史中存在，也是夜空中第三亮的星星。今年開始，歐洲南方天文臺的「微紅點計劃」(Pale Red Dot project) 正在調查比鄰星的微小變化，看這些變化是否與行星有關，包括可能的類地行星。雖然不太可能，但如果在比鄰星的行星上發現了文明，那麼人類與他們進行交流的可能性將大大提高。
#PaleRedDot #比鄰星 #阿爾法半人馬 #宇宙探索 #尋找行星 #天文學 #靈魂伴侶的星球
來源:NASA每日圖片
