The world’s largest SETI effort is scanning the skies with AI --------By Danny Price
文章讲述了关于地外文明探索--搜索文明信号的一项新的计划,且使用了AI辅助的技术。
在文章开头,说明了自奥兹玛计划到目前为止,我们依旧一无所获,我们所面对的,还是那沉默的夜空,目前最大的进展,“To date, our most promising signal is one at 982 MHz collected in April 2019 from the nearby star Proxima Centauri. ” 也是一个仍需要验证的疑似信号罢了。
1.我们怎么判断地外文明“不寻常的”信号?
方法是从电磁波入手,使用射电望远镜来接受来自某一星域的电磁波信号。 这时,某些“不寻常的信号”便就代表着外星文明的存在。文章中的意思嘛,我理解是这样的,我们人类发展至今,对地球乃至太阳系的电磁环境都产生了影响,以至于会有一些明显的特征,我们是地球文明,推想跟我们差不多的文明,应该也是这样,所以,我们便来看看接受到的信号中是否有这种类似的特征,或者 “我们在这里!”这般的信号。 The anomalous signals we’re searching for fall under a broad umbrella called “technosignatures.” A technosignature is any sort of indication that technology exists or existed somewhere beyond our solar system. That includes both intentional and unintentional radio signals, but it can also include things like an abundance of artificial molecules in the atmosphere. 这里的比喻,很六,因为具体我也不清楚到底是什么特征,这里姑且理解到这!
2.广大的电磁频谱,观察哪些?
2.1搜索整个电磁波段,简直不可能。 德雷克将搜索范围限制在1.42GHZ左右的狭窄频率范围内,也就是21厘米线。选择这些频率是因为1.42 GHz是宇宙中最丰富的气体——氢原子自发辐射光子的频率。德雷克假设,一个智能社会会选择这个频率进行有意的传输,因为任何mapping the galaxy’s hydrogen 的天文学家都会注意到这个频率。
Each observatory has only enough memory to store Listen’s raw data for about 24 hours before running out of room. For example, the Parkes telescope generates 215 gigabits per second of data, enough to fill up a laptop hard drive in a few seconds.
关于这点,文章中介绍了一个例子: To understand why, let’s look at the example of a cloud of hydrogen-gas molecules in space emitting radiation in the 21-cm line. 观察一个氢气分子团发射的频谱(来自那个星域的),因为一个分子团中,各个氢分子的运动方向不同,根据多普勒效应,则迎面朝我们的,其频率会高,背向我们的,其频率会低,所以一个分子团,经过接收后,氢云的信号被覆盖在以1.42 GHz为中心的频段上,不会很集中,实际体现为(类似)噪声状态,什么也分辨不了,如果这时,在仅2HZ的窄带信号上,我们竟然观察到了信号,那么 “it would have meant he had detected a physical impossibility: a hydrogen cloud in which every molecule was stationary relative to Earth. Alternatively, the signal was artificial.”几乎可以说,所有分子都是相互静止的,这显然是人工的。 所以,窄带信号,一般均非人能造就。
5.2至于短暂的尖峰信号 We can make a similar assumption about short-duration signals. While there are some natural short-duration signals, namely fast radio bursts and pulsars, these have other characteristics that single them out. A signal emitted by a pulsar, for example, has a long “tail” caused by the lower frequencies lagging behind higher frequencies over interstellar distances. 我们可以对短时间信号做类似的假设。虽然有一些自然的短持续时间信号,即快速射电暴和脉冲星,它们有其他的特征使它们脱颖而出。例如,脉冲星发出的信号有一个长长的“尾巴”,这是由于在星际间的距离内,低频滞后于高频。
Listen项目通过在项目期间监听附近数千颗类日恒星,极大地增加了SETI项目搜索的恒星数量。我们还在以较低的灵敏度观测银河平面上数百万颗更远的恒星。我们甚至计划观察附近的星系,寻找任何穿过星系间空间的异常能量信号。最后一个类别的机会有点渺茫,但毕竟,这个项目的目的是要比以往任何时候都更多地倾听。And we’re even planning to observe nearby galaxies for any exceptionally energetic signals that have crossed intergalactic space. That last category is a bit of a long shot, but after all, the project’s purpose is to listen more than ever before.
最后这个总结,很有情感,我翻译翻译几个看不懂的词语
Breakthrough Listen(该项目名) is a hugely ambitious program and the most comprehensive search for intelligent life beyond Earth ever undertaken. Even so, odds are we won’t find a single promising signal. 纵然如此,我们也有可能失败,发现不了一个有希望的信号。 Jill Tarter, the former director of the SETI Institute, has often likened(把...比拟) the cumulative SETI efforts so far to scooping a glass of water out of the ocean, seeing there are no fish in the glass, and concluding no fish exist. 前任领导形容SETI的工程是从海洋里捞出一杯水,来研究水里有没有鱼,最后确定以下,没有鱼。(我觉得暗含嘲讽的意味,大海捞针啊!) By the time Breakthrough Listen is finished, it will be more like having examined a swimming pool’s worth of ocean water. 这次是从海里去了一游泳池的水来看看 But if no compelling candidate signals are found, we haven’t failed. 假如仍没有,我们也没有失败。 We’ll still be able to place statistical constraints on how common it is for intelligent life to evolve. 我们仍然能够对智能生命进化的普遍程度进行统计上的限制。(假设这样的方式对的话) We may also spot new natural phenomena that warrant more study. 我们或许发现了更多值得研究的自然现象! Then it’s on to the next swimming pool. 之后,再下一个游泳池吧!
In the meantime, our data will help provide insights, at least, into some of the most profound questions in all of science. 与此同时,我们的数据也将给我们对某些最深奥的科学以洞察。 We still know almost nothing about how often life emerges from nonliving matter, or how often life develops into an intelligent society, or how long intelligent societies last. So while we may not find any of the signs we’re looking for, we can come closer to putting boundaries on how often these things occur.
Even if the stars we search are silent, at least we’ll have learned that we need to look farther afield for any cosmic company. ----完----- 读完一篇,点着有道翻译看,觉得没什么,总结一下的话,还真是有些难度,不过很有意义!
Even if the stars we search are silent,at least we'll have learned that we need to look farther afield for any cosmic company!!!