There are countless stars in the universe. There may be around one hundred billion stars just in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

宇宙中有無數的星星，光是我們的銀河系中就可能有大約一千億顆恆星。

But the single strangest one that we've discovered so far is a pretty close one to home, known officially as KIC 8462852,

但是到目前為止我們發現最奇怪的一個是離我們家園很近的一個，官方稱為 KIC 8462852，

it's only a little larger than the Sun is, and is only located about 1280 light-years away from us.

它只比太陽大一點，距離我們只有大約 1280 光年。

It's been known to humanity for quite some time,

人類早就知道了它的存在，

but always remained relatively obscure until recent observations noticed something strange back in 2015.

但對它了解一直都比較模糊，直到最近的觀察在 2015 年發現了一些奇怪的東西。

It seemed like KIC 8462852 was getting dimmer, and nobody really understood why.

看起來 KIC 8462852 變得越來越暗，而且沒有人知道為什麼。

Researchers became aware in 2015 that back in March of 2011,

研究人員在 2015 年發現，早在 2011 年 3 月，

recordings made by the Kepler space telescope indicated that the star's brightness was reduced by up to 15%,

開普勒太空望遠鏡的記錄就表明，這顆恆星的亮度降低了高達 15%，

and by February 2013, its brightness had been reduced by up to 22%.

到 2013 年 2 月，它的亮度降低了 22%。

The star continued to dim and brighten again, which suggested that something enormous was orbiting around it.

這顆恆星持續變暗又再次變亮，這表明有巨大的東西圍繞著它運行。

For comparison, a planet the size of Jupiter would only obscure the star by just 1%.

相比之下，木星大小的行星只會使恆星變暗 1%。

This indicated that whatever was blocking the light from the star wasn't a planet,

這表示阻擋恆星光線的不是行星，

but something way bigger, covering up to half of the entire width of the star.

而是更大的東西，覆蓋了恆星整個寬度的一半。

In addition to these day-long dimming and brightenings,

除了這些一整天的變暗又變亮，

a study of a century's worth of photographic plates dating between 1890 and 1998 suggested that the star's brightness had gradually faded by 20% in that time,

一項對 1890 年至 1998 年間將近一個世紀的照相底片的研究表明，在那段時間裡，這顆恆星的亮度逐漸減弱了 20%，

an amount unprecedented by any other known star of this size and type.

任何其他已知的這種大小和類型的恆星都史無前例。

Speculation began to run rampant about what was causing the star to fade,

關於是什麼導致恆星變暗的猜測開始出現，

and one of the more interesting theories was that we were witnessing the construction of a giant alien mega-structure called a Dyson sphere

其中一個比較有趣的理論是，我們目睹了一個巨大的外星巨型結構的構造，稱為戴森球。

In a paper written back in 1960 by Freeman Dyson titled, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation",

在弗里曼戴森於 1960 年寫的一篇題為「尋找紅外輻射的人造恆星源」的論文中，

Dyson suggested that any other technological civilization in the universe would likely follow a similar power consumption pattern to that of humans.

戴森認為，宇宙中的任何其他科技文明都可能遵循與人類相似的消耗模式。

Since humanity's energy needs have been continuously growing year by year,

由於人類對能源的需求逐年不斷增長，

it's possible that eventually, we'll need more energy than what we can produce on earth.

最終，我們可能需要比我們在地球上能生產出的還要多的能量。

So, the logical end step for maximum energy harvesting is to harvest it directly from the Sun from one of three different types of Dyson spheres.

因此，為了能量收集的最大值，合乎邏輯的最終方法是從三種不同類型的戴森球中直接從太陽中收集能量。

Type one is to build a ring of orbiting structures around the star that collect light and wirelessly transfer the energy back to the home planet.

第一類是圍繞恆星建造一圈軌道結構，收集光線並將能量無線傳輸回母星。

A type two is to build a bubble of satellites around the star that absorbs a good percentage of the light, but not all of it.

第二種是在恆星周圍建造一個衛星氣泡，吸收大部分光，但不是全部。

And a type three is to completely swallow the star with a solid shell of matter that absorbs 100% of the energy and light that the star produces.

第三類是用固體物質外殼完全吞噬恆星，吸收恆星產生的能量和光的 100%。

If a sphere like this was built around the Sun with a radius of one au, the spheres surface area would be 550 million times the surface area of Earth,

如果像這樣的球體圍繞太陽建造，半徑為 1 天文單位，球體表面積將是地球表面積的 5.5 億倍，

and it would produce a ridiculous 384.6 Yottawatts of energy, about 33 trillion times the entire energy consumption of all of humanity in 1998.

它將產生 384.6 Yottawatts 的能源，大約是 1998 年全人類能源消耗總量的 33 萬億倍，很誇張。

Access to such an enormous amount of energy would essentially make any civilization that harnessed it appear to us to be as powerful as Gods.

獲得如此巨大的能量基本上會使任何利用它的文明在我們看來就像神一樣強大。

We don't know what exactly would be possible; it would kind of be like showing Paleolithic people what a nuclear reactor would be capable of doing.

我們不知道究竟會發生什麼。 這有點像向舊石器時代的人們展示核反應堆的能力。

Freeman Dyson speculated that any civilization in space that got advanced enough would eventually build one of these types of structures,

弗里曼戴森推測，任何足夠先進的太空文明最終都會建造這些類型的結構，

which meant that in theory, we could detect their presence by observing a massive dip in light, sort of like what was happening with KIC 8462852.

這表示，理論上，我們可以通過觀察光線的大幅下降來檢測它們的存在，有點像發生在 KIC 8462852 的事情。

However, Dyson also believes that most known substances that would make up a Dyson Sphere would be re-radiating energy in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum,

然而，戴森還認為，構成戴森球的大多數已知物質都會在電磁光譜的紅外部分重新輻射能量，

which was not being detected with our mysterious star.

但我們在神秘的恆星沒有偵測到。

In 2016, the lead researcher into the light irregularities of the star said in a now famous TED talk that

2016 年，研究恆星光不規則性的首席研究員在著名的 TED 演講中說道：

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and it is my job, my responsibility, as an astronomer to remind people that alien hypotheses should always be a last resort."

「非凡的主張需要非凡的證據，作為一名天文學家，我的工作和責任是提醒人們外星人的假設應該是下下策。」

To further add to the mystery though, the SETI Institute concluded that whatever material is blocking the light between us and the star is located inside the star's habitable zone,

進一步補充這個謎團，SETI 研究所得出的結論是，無論是什麼物質阻擋了我們和恆星之間的光線，都位於恆星的可居住區內，

where life like ours would be possible.

像我們這樣的生命是可能的。

The craziest theory is that we may be currently observing a gigantic interplanetary space battle that included the apocalyptic destruction of a planet that generated dust obscuring the light from the star.

最瘋狂的理論是，我們目前可能正在觀察一場巨大的行星際太空戰鬥，其中包括一顆行星的世界末日毀滅，該行星產生的塵埃遮擋了來自恆星的光線。

Seriously, all natural explanations were turning up weak, until a recent study was concluded just last month in January 2018.

認真的，直到最近的一項研究於 2018 年 1 月上個月結束，所有自然解釋都變得薄弱。

More than 1,700 people donated over $100,000 to fund the study, which concluded that the most likely culprit blocking the star's light was just dust.

超過 1,700 人捐贈了超過 100,000 美元來資助這項研究，該研究得出的結論是，阻擋恆星光線的最有可能的罪魁禍首只是塵埃。

The data showed that different colors of light were being blocked at different intensities,

數據顯示，不同顏色的光在不同強度下被阻擋，

which meant that whatever is passing between us and the star isn't opaque,

這表示在我們和恆星之間經過的任何東西都是非透明的，

which is what would be expected from either a planet or an alien mega-structure.

可能是我們預料的行星或外星巨型結構。

If it is dust though, it's still not entirely clear why that much would be in the system though in the first place.

如果它確實是塵埃，那麼仍然不清楚為什麼會出現這麼多的量。

Considering that it doesn't appear to be a young star system, dust should have coalesced into a series of planets by now,

考慮到它似乎不是一個年輕的恆星系統，塵埃現在應該已經合併成一系列行星，

which is yet another part of the puzzle surrounding KIC 8462852.

這又是圍繞 KIC 8462852 謎題的另一部分。

There is still work that needs to be done in finding answers out about this star.

在尋找有關這顆恆星的答案方面仍有研究要做。

We still can't say for certain what exactly is going on.

我們仍然不能確定到底發生了什麼。

But what I can say for certain is how to get a free audio book. You head over to audible.com/reallifelore.

但我能肯定的是該如何獲得免費的有聲書。 前往 audible.com/reallifelore。

As I'm sure you've heard before, Audible is a leading provider of audiobooks and other spoken word entertainment.

我相信你以前有聽過，Audible 是有聲書和其他口述娛樂的龍頭平台。

They have thousands of amazing titles and there are some audiobooks that you can only find on Audible, like Artemis by Andy Weir.

他們有數千本很棒的有聲書，有些只能在 Audible 上找到，比如 Andy Weir 的 Artemis。

A story that takes place in a city on the moon in humanity's near future written by the author of the Martian, which I strongly recommend.

其故事內容是發生在人類近代未來月球上的一座城市的故事，由火星人撰寫，我強烈推薦。

What's amazing to me about Audible, though, is that they stand behind their product.

不過，Audible 讓我感到驚奇的是，他們提供完善的售後服務。

If you don't like what you've listened to, you can swap it out for another one with our great listen guarantee.

如果你不喜歡你聽的有聲書，你可以利用聆聽保固將其換成另一本。

Once you try out your free book, membership includes one free title each month and 30% off everything else.

試聽完免費書籍後，會員資格包括每月一本免費書籍，其他所有書籍均可享受 30% 的折扣。

I love listening to audiobooks while I'm driving or exercising,

我喜歡在開車或運動時聽有聲書，

and I'm sure you will too, so it's worth going and try out a book for free with our 30-day free trial at audible.com/reallifelore.

我相信你也會喜歡，所以很值得上 audible.com/reallifelore ，透過我們的 30 天免費試用免費試聽一本書。