萬里單騎掠日的彗星伊森或已解體

A new guest arrived just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, but apparently didn't survive the festivities.

一個新客人及時趕赴感恩節晚餐，但顯然沒在節日活動中活下來。

The visitor, a pristine comet called ISON that left its home at least a million years ago, made its closest approach to the sun Thursday afternoon.

這位訪客是一顆名叫伊森(ISON)的原始彗星，自走出家門已至少有100萬年，它於美東時間週四下午飛抵近日點。

But based on images arriving from various spacecraft, the consensus aMong scientists appeared to be that ISON, like the mythical Icarus, didn't survive its close encounter with the sun.

然而根據多個航天器發回的照片，科學家似乎一致認爲，伊森同神話人物伊卡洛斯(Icarus)一般，已在與太陽的近距離接觸中“死去”。

The comet's sweep near the sun was a moment that thousands of astronomers around the world had anxiously awaited, and before hopes dimmed about its survival, ISON was predicted to possibly loop around the star and emerge as a bright object visible to the naked eye in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere.

此前，全世界上千位天文學家翹首期盼着彗星掃過太陽的那一刻，並且在其“生還”希望變得渺茫前，科學家曾預測伊森或將環繞太陽並在北半球上空散發出肉眼可見的明亮光芒。

However, scientists now suspect it fragmented into countless pieces-never to be seen again.

而現在科學家懷疑它已破碎成無數個碎片，再也無法見到。

Before the close approach, observations 'showed that the comet had brightened and then lost brightness. So there's a lot of conjecture that it might be fading,' said Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, a planetary scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., before the comet made its close pass with the sun.

科羅拉多州博爾德太空科學研究所(Space Science Institute)的行星科學家費希爾(Padma Yanamandra-Fisher)在彗星接近太陽之前說，觀察顯示，這顆彗星在靠近太陽前曾一度變亮又失去了亮度。因而許多人猜測它或許正在消亡。

Since it was spotted more than a year ago, ISON's behavior has constantly surprised astronomers, and they had held out hope that the comet could still put on a pretty display. On Monday, for example, it looked like it wouldn't survive. Yet it was still there on Tuesday.

自一年多前被發現以來，伊森的運行狀態就不斷地令天文學家感到驚訝，而他們一直期望這顆彗星仍能展現出美麗的奇觀。比如週一這顆彗星看起來似乎將解體，然而週二它依然存在着。

In addition to being a cosmic tease, ISON was one of the most tracked comets in history.

除了是個天體淘氣鬼，伊森還成爲了有史以來追蹤者最多的彗星之一。

Thousands of telescopes-amateur, professional and space-borne-were being trained on this relatively tiny clump of ancient rock and ice no more than three or four miles in diameter.

上千臺業餘、專業和太空望遠鏡都被瞄準這顆原始彗星。該彗星體型較小，由石塊和冰組成，直徑不超過五、六公里。

The comet was discovered in September 2012 by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok using data from the International Scientific Optical Network, whose initials provided the name.

2012年9月，俄羅斯天文學家涅夫斯基(Vitali Nevski)和諾維切諾克(Artyom Novichonok)利用國際科學光學觀測網(International Scientific Optical Network, ISON)的數據發現了這顆彗星，並以觀測網的英文縮寫命名了這顆彗星。

Nothing like ISON has been seen in living memory. It is a relatively rare 'sungrazer,' a comet that flies especially close to our sun.

現世從未見過像伊森這樣的彗星。它是一顆罕見的掠日彗星，其飛行軌道與太陽極其貼近。

Unlike periodic comets that come and go like the famous Halley's, ISON is pristine and was making its first journey toward the sun. Its composition-mainly rock and ice-has barely changed since it formed some 4.5 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest objects in the solar system.

不同於像著名的哈雷彗星(Halley)這樣的頻繁來往的周期彗星，伊森是一顆原始彗星，而這是它第一次飛向太陽，其組成（主要爲岩石和冰）自約450萬年前彗星形成以來幾乎沒有變化，這使得它成爲太陽系裏最古老的天體之一。

That had scientists intrigued, because ISON's proximity to the sun, and the chance to study what it is made of, could provide valuable clues about origins of the solar system.

令科學家感興趣的原因不僅是伊森離太陽之近，還因其成份研究能夠爲太陽系起源提供有價值的線索。

When a new comet flies close to the sun, the tremendous heat can help reveal rarer materials, such as metals, of which it is made.

當一顆新的彗星飛近太陽時，極大的熱量會將構成這顆彗星的稀有材質暴露出來，例如金屬。

'It's the first time in 200 years that we've seen a comet that's both a sungrazer and brand new,' said Matthew Knight from the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

亞利桑那州洛厄爾天文臺(Lowell Observatory)的奈特(Matthew Knight)說，這是200年來我們所看到的第一顆嶄新的掠日彗星。

If ISON had survived, scientists predicted it would have been poised to put on a display in the first week of December, at least for Northern Hemisphere viewers.

如果伊森沒有解體，科學家預測它將會在12月的第一週展現光芒，至少北半球的人們將能看到它。

'It would have a very long and bright tail as it comes up from the horizon shortly before sunrise,' said Dr. Knight, before Thursday's fatal close encounter.

奈特在週四彗星“致命”的近日之旅前說，它將在接近日出時從地平線升起，並拖着一條很長很明亮的彗尾。

'If you go out 30 minutes before [sunrise], you should be able to see it with the naked eye.'

他說，如果你在（日出）30分鐘前來到戶外，你應該就能用肉眼看到它。

But that was only if ISON had survived Thursday's flyby.

不過前提是伊森能在週四飛過太陽時“存活”下來。