Exoplanet without a sun found gobbling up 6 billion tons of gas and dust per second
发现一颗没有恒星的系外行星每秒吞噬60亿吨气体和尘埃
Scientists have identified a lone planet with a ferocious appetite. Located in the Chamaeleon constellation roughly 620 light-years away, the rogue planet, named Cha 1107-7626, exists in the vast emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any star.
科学家们发现了一颗食欲旺盛的孤独星球。这颗名为Cha 1107-7626的流浪行星位于大约620光年之外的变色龙座，存在于浩瀚空旷的太空中，远离任何恒星的温暖。
Rogue planets like this one are cosmic drifters — worlds that roam the galaxy untethered, unlike the familiar planets bound to a solar system. Most rogue planets are thought to be cold, silent wanderers. But Cha 1107-7626 is different.
像这样的流浪行星是宇宙漂泊者——在银河系中漫游的世界，不像我们熟悉的行星那样受制于一个太阳系。大多数流浪行星被认为是寒冷、沉默的漫游者。但是Cha 1107-7626不同。
"People may think of planets as quiet and stable worlds, but with this discovery we see that planetary-mass objects freely floating in space can be exciting places," Víctor Almendros-Abad, an astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Palermo, National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy and lead author of the new study in a statement.
意大利国家研究所巴勒莫天文台的天文学家维克托·阿尔门德罗斯-阿巴德（Víctor Almendros-Abad）表示：“人们可能认为行星是安静而稳定的世界，但通过这一发现，我们看到在太空中自由漂浮的类行星质量天体也可以是令人兴奋的地方。”天体物理学（INAF），意大利，这项新研究的主要作者在一份声明中说。
For instance, Cha 1107-7626 is not just drifting through interstellar space — it's feeding.
例如，Cha 1107-7626不仅仅是在星际空间漂流——它还在进食。
Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have caught it pulling in gas and dust at an astonishing rate: six billion tons every single second. Never before has a rogue planet, or any planet, been observed growing this fast.
借助欧洲南方天文台（ESO）的甚大望远镜（VLT），天文学家发现它以惊人的速度吸收气体和尘埃：每秒60亿吨。此前从未有流浪行星或任何行星被观察到增长如此之快。
"This is the strongest accretion episode ever recorded for a planetary-mass object," Almendros-Abad said.
阿尔门德罗斯-阿巴德说：“这是有史以来记录到的行星质量天体最强的物质积聚事件。”
With a mass equivalent to between five and 10 Jupiters, Cha 1107-7626 is one of the lowest-mass free-floating planets known to host a disk and show active accretion. Observations from ESO's VLT and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal telltale signs of a rich, evolving system: infrared excess from 4 to 12 microns, silicate features at 10 microns (similar to those in stars and brown dwarfs), hydrocarbon emission lines pointing to a carbon-rich disk, and multiple signatures of ongoing accretion. Together, these make Cha 1107-7626 the clearest case yet of disk-driven growth in a planetary-mass object — a true poster child for how rogue planets can build themselves in the dark.
Cha 1107-7626的质量相当于5到10颗木星，是已知能够拥有吸积盘并显示活跃吸积的质量最低的自由漂浮行星之一。来自欧洲南方天文台的甚大望远镜 (VLT) 以及NASA詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜 (JWST) 的观测揭示了一个丰富且不断演化的系统的明显迹象：4 到 12 微米的红外过量、10 微米的硅酸盐特征（类似于恒星和褐矮星中的特征），碳氢化合物发射线指向一个富含碳的圆盘，以及多种进行中吸积的多种特征。总之，这些使得Cha 1107-7626成为迄今为止行星质量天体中由盘驱动增长的最明确案例——真正展现了流浪行星如何在黑暗中自我构建的典型例子。
"The origin of rogue planets remains an open question: are they the lowest-mass objects formed like stars, or giant planets ejected from their birth systems?" wondered the study's co-author Aleks Scholz, an astronomer at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom, in the statement.
“流浪行星的起源仍然是一个未解之谜：它们是像恒星一样形成的最低质量天体，还是从诞生系统中被抛出的巨行星？”该研究的合著者、英国圣安德鲁斯大学的天文学家亚历克斯·斯科尔茨在声明中表示。
Moreover, Cha 1107-7626 isn't growing at a steady pace — it surges. The team used VLT equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph, along with JWST data and archival observations from the VLT's SINFONI instrument, to catch the planet during a "growth spurt," or burst of accretion. By comparing the light it emitted before and during the burst, the team was able to piece together clues about the process.
此外，Cha 1107-7626并没有以稳定的速度增长，而是激增。该团队使用配备X-shooter 光谱仪的VLT，以及来自VLT Sinfoni仪器的JWST数据和档案观测，在“生长突增”或吸积爆发期间捕捉到了这颗行星。通过比较它在爆发前后的光发射情况，团队能够拼凑出有关这一过程的线索。
Cha 1107-7626's violent growth spurt appears to have been fueled by its magnetic field, which is a process previously only observed in stars. Even more surprising, the chemistry of its disk shifted during the burst, with water vapor appearing only while the accretion was underway.
Cha 1107-7626的剧烈生长突增似乎是由其磁场推动的，这一过程以前只在恒星中观察到。更令人惊讶的是，在突增期间，其盘的化学成分发生了变化，只有在物质吸积进行时才出现水蒸气。
The discovery suggests at least some rogue planets may grow much like stars, since similar bursts of accretion have been seen in stellar nurseries. Detecting these free-floating worlds is notoriously difficult — they're faint and elusive — but that could soon change. With the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), equipped with the world's largest mirror and operating under the darkest skies, astronomers will be able to track down more of these lone planets and reveal just how star-like they truly are.
这一发现表明，至少有一些流浪行星的形成可能与恒星类似，因为在恒星诞生区也曾观测到类似的物质吸积爆发。探测这些自由漂浮的世界 notoriously 困难——它们微弱且难以捉摸——但这种情况可能很快会改变。借助即将建成的超大望远镜（ELT），配备世界上最大的镜面并在最黑暗的天空下运行，天文学家将能够追踪更多这样的孤立行星，并揭示它们究竟有多像恒星。
"This discovery blurs the line between stars and planets and gives us a sneak peek into the earliest formation periods of rogue planets," Belinda Damian, an astronomer at the University of St. Andrews, said in the statement.
圣安德鲁斯大学天文学家贝琳达·达米安在声明中表示：“这一发现模糊了恒星和行星之间的界限，让我们得以一窥流浪行星最早的形成时期。”
"The idea that a planetary object can behave like a star is awe-inspiring and invites us to wonder what worlds beyond our own could be like during their nascent stages," ESO astronomer Amelia Bayo said in the statement.
ESO天文学家阿米莉亚·巴约(Amelia Bayo)在声明中表示：“行星物体可以像恒星一样表现的这个想法令人敬畏，并激发我们去想象在早期阶段，超出我们自身世界的其他世界可能会是什么样子。”
