高级检索

寻找另一个地球

Searching for“another Earth”

  • 摘要: 系外行星尤其是宜居行星的搜寻与刻画,是天文学研究的热点前沿问题。寻找另一个地球,是回答“生命如何起源?”,“人类是否孤独?”等重大科学问题的关键。文章结合理论和观测,对现有的行星形成演化理论和系外行星探测方法做了简要介绍,并说明现有的探测技术很难探测到“另一个地球”。此外,主流的探测方法,如视向速度法、凌星法,都是通过恒星变化探测行星,属于间接探测。未来的系外行星刻画需要直接获取来自行星的光子,因此直接成像是未来系外行星探测的趋势。合成孔径光干涉成像法可以同时实现高对比度和高空间分辨率,未来可用于对“另一个地球”的直接成像。中国提出的“觅音”计划,有望首次实现系外行星的光干涉成像,在寻找“另一个地球”上取得重大突破。

     

    Abstract: The detection of exoplanets, especially the habitable planets, is a hot issue. Searching for “another Earth” is a milestone to answer some crucial scientific issues, e.g. “How was life initiated?”, “Are we alone in the universe?”. In this article, we briefly introduce both the general theories of planet formation and evolution, and different detection methods. Neither the radial velocity or transit method, currently the most popular methods for finding exoplanets, can detect another Earth in another solar system. To characterize exoplanets in the near future, direct imaging is necessary, instead of indirect detection through seeing the changes in their star’s motion. Interferometry via synthetic apertures can achieve both high contrast and high angular resolution, thus it is thought to be the most probable way to image another Earth. China has proposed the “Miyin” project, which aims to be the first to image exoplanets via interferometry, and will try to make a significant breakthrough in finding another Earth.

     

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