A Newly Discovered Trail of Cosmic Debris Illustrates How the End of the Solar System Could Look

欧洲南方天文台（ESO）的天文学家在一颗白矮星周围发现了一个碎片盘，它由曾经围绕该恒星运行的太阳系残骸组成。对于研究人员来说，这些结构可能为我们太阳在耗尽燃料后，太阳系的终局会是什么样子提供线索。

The white dwarf J1328−1450 is located about 1,600 light-years from Earth. Astronomers were already aware of it thanks to star-mapping catalogs, but new observations taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (yes, that’s its real name) revealed that it is surrounded by a disk of debris with an unusual structure: Two distinct rings of gas separated by a gap.

白矮星 J1328−1450 距离地球约 1,600 光年。天文学家此前通过星图目录已经了解到了它的存在，但利用欧洲南方天文台的“甚大望远镜”（Very Large Telescope，没错，这就是它的真名）进行的新观测显示，它被一个结构异常的碎片盘所包围：两个由间隙隔开的独特气体环。

According to the observatory, this disk of material is likely the remnant of the planetary system that once orbited J1328−1450. As it passed through a red giant phase and subsequently became a white dwarf, the star may have destroyed some of its planets and left other rocky bodies exposed to an extreme environment. Some of the released material ended up forming a disk of gas and dust around the dead star.

据天文台称，这个物质盘很可能是曾经围绕 J1328−1450 运行的行星系统的残余。当这颗恒星经历红巨星阶段并最终演变为白矮星时，它可能摧毁了一些行星，并使其他岩石天体暴露在极端环境中。部分释放出的物质最终在死星周围形成了一个气体和尘埃盘。

An illustration showing what the debris rings may look like around a white dwarf. Illustration: Maria Cristina Fortuna/ESO

一张展示白矮星周围碎片环可能样子的插图。插图：Maria Cristina Fortuna/ESO

The process that shaped this system could repeat itself in our own. In about 5 billion years, the sun will exhaust its fuel and expand into a red giant. During this phase, it could engulf nearby bodies, like the closest planets. It will then shed its outer layers, leaving behind a white dwarf. Any rocky bodies that survive this transformation could break apart and form a debris disk around the dead star, like the one astronomers are now observing in J1328−1450.

塑造该系统的过程可能会在我们自己的太阳系中重演。大约 50 亿年后，太阳将耗尽燃料并膨胀成一颗红巨星。在此阶段，它可能会吞噬附近的天体，例如最近的行星。随后，它将抛掉外层，留下一颗白矮星。任何在这一转变中幸存下来的岩石天体都可能破碎，并在死星周围形成一个碎片盘，就像天文学家现在在 J1328−1450 中观察到的那样。

But the white dwarf’s two debris rings hint at another possibility. Their structure appears to be shaped by bodies that astronomers have not yet been able to identify directly. The data suggest that, following the star’s transformation, at least two planetary objects may have survived among the remnants of that system.

但白矮星的两个碎片环暗示了另一种可能性。它们的结构似乎是由天文学家尚未能直接识别的天体所塑造的。数据表明，在该恒星发生转变后，该系统的残骸中可能至少幸存了两个行星级天体。

Researchers believe these two bodies could be very different in size. The one closest to the white dwarf would measure just a few kilometers in diameter, while the more distant one could be as large as Pluto or even the moon. Their interaction with the surrounding material would explain the formation of the two rings, although it has not yet been confirmed that they exist as separate objects. An alternative possibility is that the structure originates from different parts of a single planet-like body, such as its crust and core.

研究人员认为这两个天体的大小可能差异巨大。距离白矮星最近的一个直径仅有几公里，而较远的一个可能像冥王星甚至月球那么大。它们与周围物质的相互作用可以解释这两个环的形成，尽管目前尚未证实它们是作为独立天体存在的。另一种可能性是，该结构源自单个类行星天体的不同部分，例如其地壳和地核。

This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.

本文最初发表于《连线》西班牙语版，由西班牙语翻译而来。