英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

2021/03/15 05:30

◎陳成良

Sixty-six million years ago, a huge celestial object struck off the coast of what is now Mexico, triggering a catastrophic "impact winter" that eventually wiped out three-quarters of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs.

600萬年前，一個巨大星體撞上現在的墨西哥外海，引發釀成巨災的「衝擊性寒冬」，最後導致恐龍在內的地球上4分之3物種滅絕。

A pair of astronomers at Harvard say they have now resolved long standing mysteries surrounding the nature and origin of the "Chicxulub impactor."

哈佛大學2位天文學家表示，他們已經解開長久以來關於「希克蘇魯伯衝擊體」（Chicxulub impactor）的本質和來源之謎。

Their analysis suggests it was a comet that originated in a region of icy debris on the edge of the solar system, that Jupiter was responsible for it crashing into our planet, and that we can expect similar impacts every 250 million to 750 million years.

他們的分析顯示，這是源自太陽系邊緣冰冷碎片區域的一顆彗星，且木星也要為此彗星撞上地球負責。類似規模的彗星撞地球頻率為每2億5000萬年到7億5000萬年。

The duo’s paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports this week, pushes back against an older theory that claims the object was a fragment of an asteroid that came from our solar system’s Main Belt.

2人的論文本週在《科學報告》期刊發表，推翻了之前認為這個物體是來自太陽系「主小行星帶」小行星碎片的理論。

英倫翻譯轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1437161