This extremely bright supergiant is famous for its variable fading and brightening

這顆極亮的超巨星以其變化多端的漸變和增亮而聞名。

and distinctive presence as a red star amongst a sky of twinkling gold.

和獨特的存在，作為一顆紅星在閃爍的金色天空中。

It has secured a name for itself in numerous myths, stories, and recorded observations the world over.

它在全世界眾多的神話、故事和記錄的觀察中獲得了自己的名字。

But lately, Betelguese has been catching our attention for another reason.

但最近，貝特魯斯引起我們的注意，還有一個原因。

Long considered one of the brightest stars in the night sky, it has begun to dramatically fade then brighten again

長期以來，它一直被認為是夜空中最亮的一顆星，現在卻開始急劇消退，然後又重新變亮。

for reasons we can't quite pin down.

因為我們不能完全確定的原因。

And it's caused some people to wonder if it's about to explode.

而這也讓一些人懷疑是不是要爆炸了。

Despite being roughly 643 light years away,

儘管距離大約643光年。

Betelguese is nearly impossible to miss.

檳榔幾乎不可能錯過。

For starters, it's MASSIVE; so big that if it were at the center of our Solar System, it would engulf all the planets up to Jupiter.

首先，它是巨大的，大到如果它在太陽系的中心，它將吞噬所有的行星，直到木星。

Its diameter is roughly 1,000 times that of our Sun!

它的直徑大約是我們太陽的1000倍!

To find it, just look at the Orion constellation.

要想找到它，就看獵戶座。

If Orion is “The Hunter” with his iconic three-star belt, then Betelguese is the hunter's left shoulder.

如果說獵戶座是 "獵人 "的標誌性三星腰帶，那麼貝特魯斯就是獵人的左肩。

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere during the first few days of January, you can see Betelguese rising in the east just after sunset.

如果你在1月的頭幾天在北半球，你可以在日落之後看到東方升起的貝特宙斯。

All other times, this star is easy to spot no matter where you're located in the world!

其他時候，無論你在世界的哪個地方，這顆星都很容易被發現!

Especially September through March.

尤其是9月到3月。

Some of the earliest known records of Betelguese come from China in the 1st century BCE.

已知最早的一些關於檳榔的記錄來自於公元前1世紀的中國。

These records describe Betelgeuse as being yellow… which is strange, because just a few years later, in 150 CE,

這些記錄描述檳榔是黃色的... 這很奇怪，因為就在幾年後，在公元150年。

the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy described Betelguese as red.

埃及天文學家托勒密將貝特魯斯描述為紅色。

This indicates that Betelguse rapidly underwent a stellar phase change sometime between the time these two records were made,

這表明，貝特古斯在這兩個記錄產生的時間之間的某個時候迅速經歷了恆星相位的變化。

evolving to become the red giant that it is today.

演變成今天的紅色巨人。

Betelguese's propensity for fading and brightening over a multi-year cycle also seems to have caught people's attention.

檳榔在多年的週期內有褪色和變亮的傾向，似乎也引起了人們的注意。

In western Aboriginal Australian oral tradition, Betelguese represents the 'fire magic' used by a love-struck hunter to reach the object of his affection.

在澳洲西部原住民的口述傳統中，"貝特魯斯 "代表了一個被愛情衝昏頭腦的獵人為了接近他的愛慕對象而使用的 "火魔法"。

Unfortunately, the fire magic's tendency to flicker out ultimately causes him to fail.

可惜的是，火系魔法容易閃失，最終導致他失敗。

While Sir John Herschel continues to be recognized as the first to notice Betelguese's variable brightness,

雖然約翰-赫歇爾爵士繼續被公認為是第一個注意到貝特爾蓋斯可變亮度的人。

it's clear that people living before the 19th century also recognized what was going on.

很明顯，生活在19世紀之前的人也認識到了什麼。

But recently, Betelguese has us all confused.

但最近，貝特魯斯讓我們都很困惑。

Typically, its apparent magnitude averages 0.5.

通常情況下，其表觀幅度平均為0.5。

That's just how we measure a star's brightness as seen from Earth.

這只是我們從地球上看到的測量恆星亮度的方法。

That apparent magnitude drops and rises according to short cycles that last a few hundred days,

這種明顯的幅度按照持續幾百天的短週期下降和上升。

as well as a longer cyclic variation that lasts every 5 years or so.

以及每5年左右的較長週期性變化。

But starting in late 2019, Betelguese began dimming and brightening in a way that was inconsistent with its normal cycles.

但從2019年下半年開始，貝特宙斯開始變暗變亮，與其正常週期不一致。

By mid-February 2020, it had lost more than 2/3rds of its brilliance,

到2020年2月中旬，它已經失去了2/3以上的輝煌。

becoming the faintest it's been in at least a century!

成為至少一個世紀以來最微弱的一次！

And just a few months later, Betelguese had returned to its normal self.

而就在幾個月後，貝特魯斯已經恢復了正常。

Betelguese is a red supergiant, meaning that it's nearing the end of its life.

檳榔嶼是一顆紅色的超巨星，意味著它的生命即將結束。

We know that it's only a matter of time before it explodes as a supernova—but when?

我們知道，它作為超新星爆炸只是時間問題，但什麼時候呢？

That's the mystery.

這就是奧祕所在。

Well, I'm super excited to be talking about this star with you guys… because it just so happens that I've devoted six years to solving this very question.

好吧，我超級興奮能和你們一起談論這個明星... 因為恰好我花了六年時間來解決這個問題。

My research focus is supernovae, so figuring out when Betelguese will explode has been a burning question of mine for quite some time now.

我的研究重點是超新星，所以搞清楚貝特宙什麼時候會爆炸，是我相當一段時間以來的一個迫切問題。

I started studying Betelgeuse by running stellar evolution simulations to model how massive stars live and die.

我開始研究貝特宙斯，是通過運行恆星演化模擬來模擬大品質恆星如何生存和死亡。

By running hundreds of models and comparing them to observations made in the field,

通過運行數百種模型，並與實地觀察結果進行比較。

my team and I determined that it'll likely be another 100,000 years or so before Betelgeuse explodes as a supernova.

我和我的團隊決定，很可能還要再過十萬年左右 貝特宙斯才會以超新星的形式爆炸。

So, if it's not going to explode soon… why is it acting so erratic?

所以，如果不是很快就會爆炸... 為什麼它表現得如此不穩定？

Well, there are a few compelling theories.

嗯，有一些令人信服的理論。

It could be there was a cloud of gas and dust obscuring its light.

可能是有一團氣體和塵埃遮擋了它的光芒。

Massive stars like Betelgeuse undergo violent eruptions as they get older,

像Betelgeuse這樣的大品質恆星，隨著年齡的增長，會發生劇烈的噴發。

to the point where they eject matter from their surface.

以至於它們從表面噴射出物質。

To us, that literally looks like Betelgeuse is burping up shells of matter,

對我們來說，這看起來就像貝特宙斯正在打嗝的物質外殼。

which obscure the star from our point of view.

從我們的角度看，它遮蔽了這顆星。

Another contributing factor to these violent eruptions are unstable regions within the star.

造成這些劇烈噴發的另一個因素是恆星內部的不穩定區域。

Here, temperature and density wildly fluctuate.

在這裡，溫度和密度瘋狂地波動著。

All of these characteristics point to the fact that Betelguese is probably still burning helium and is nowhere near the end of its life.

所有這些特徵都表明，"貝特魯斯 "很可能還在燃燒氦氣，而且還遠未到生命的盡頭。

Because the fact is, if Betelgeuse were preparing to explode, we'd expect it to be getting brighter instead of dimmer.

因為事實是，如果貝特宙斯準備爆炸，我們會期望它變得更亮，而不是更暗。

But there is something that my team and I noticed during our research that totally caught us off guard:

但我和我的團隊在研究過程中注意到了一件事，完全讓我們措手不及。

Betelguese is rotating REALLY fast.

檳榔頭的旋轉速度非常快。

Like, 150 times faster than we'd expect for a star of its size!

比我們想象中的恆星大小快150倍！

So, what gives?

那麼，是什麼給了？

Well, to explain it's observed rotational velocity, we think it may have actually gobbled up another star.

為了解釋它的觀察到的旋轉速度 我們認為它可能已經吞噬了另一顆恆星。

The idea is that when Betelguese ballooned to a red supergiant, it took a nearby star with it,

這個想法是，當貝特宙斯膨脹成一個紅色的超巨星時，它帶走了附近的一顆恆星。

absorbing that star's rotational velocity angular momentum and started spinning faster as a result.

吸收了那顆恆星的旋轉速度角動量，並是以開始加速旋轉。

While we continue to monitor Betelgeuse's behavior and watch for any indication of what its future holds,

我們將繼續監控貝特宙斯的行為，並觀察其未來的任何跡象。

we can be certain that its striking presence in the night sky will continue to hold our interest.

我們可以肯定，它在夜空中的引人注目的存在將繼續引起我們的興趣。

For the time being, anyway.

無論如何，目前。

And whenever Betelguese does explode as a supernova, we can look forward to an amazing light show.

而每當貝特魯斯真的以超新星的形式爆炸時，我們就可以期待一場驚人的燈光秀。

It'll shine as bright as the moon for weeks on end; so bright that it will be visible during the day!

它將像月亮一樣明亮，連續幾個星期；如此明亮，以至於在白天都能看到它!

I'm Sarafina Nance and this is Seeker Constellations.

我是薩拉菲娜-南斯，這裡是 "探索者星座"。

Thanks so much for watching this season of Constellations, I had such a blast!

非常感謝大家觀看這一季的《星座》，我很開心!

If there's another astronomy topic that you'd like to see us cover, let us know in the comments.

如果還有其他你想看到我們報道的天文學話題，請在評論中告訴我們。

Thanks for watching!

謝謝你的觀看!