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− | ==第2章:SETI成立的瞬间==
| + | <资料来源:[https://archive.md/2008.11.15-120723/http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/seti/seti_history_02.html SETI's founding Moment]> |
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− | It is, of course, very difficult to pinpoint an exact birth-date for SETI. Fascination with other worlds and their inhabitants has a long history, dating back to antiquity. Even the search for radio signals from space stretches back to experiments by the leading radio pioneers in the earliest days of radio. But the history of modern SETI does have a clear beginning. In 1959 Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi were young physicists at Cornell University interested in gamma rays. "One spring day in 1959," recalls Morrison, "my ingenious friend Giuseppe Cocconi came into my office and posed an unlikely question: would not gamma rays, he asked, be the very medium of communication between the stars?" Morrison agreed that gamma rays would work, but suggested they should consider the entire electromagnetic spectrum for its possibilities.
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| + | =='''第2章:SETI 成立的瞬间'''== |
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| + | 当然,很难准确确定 SETI 的诞生日。这种对其他世界及其居民的幻想有一个悠久的历史,可以追溯到古老。甚至对太空进行无线电信号搜寻也可以回溯到无线电先驱者还在实验室进行初期无线电研究的时候,但现代 [[SETI]] 的历史有一个明确的开端。在 1959 年,Philip Morrison 和 Giuseppe copcconi 在康奈尔大学正研究着伽马射线。Morrison 回忆说:“在 1959 年的春天,我那聪明朋友 Giuseppe Cocconi 走进我的办公室并提出这样的疑问:伽马射线会不会是星际间沟通的非常手段?”Morrison 认同伽马射线能做到,但他建议应该考虑整个电磁频谱的所有可能性。 |
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| [[Image:Morrison.jpg|right|thumb|193px|'''Dr. Philip Morrison''']] | | [[Image:Morrison.jpg|right|thumb|193px|'''Dr. Philip Morrison''']] |
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− | The result of this brainstorming was a short two-page article, which was published in Nature magazine on September 19, 1959. Entitled "Searching for Interstellar Communications," it is rightly considered the founding document of modern SETI.
| + | 如此而来的结果是两篇简短的文章,于 1959 年 9 月 19 日发表在自然杂志,题为“探索星际通讯”,就是这被认为是现代 SETI 的创立文件。 |
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− | In the article Morrison and Cocconi freely admit that it is impossible to estimate the probability of the existence of alien civilizations on planets orbiting distant stars. But based on the only example available - that of humans on Earth - they argue that one cannot rule out that there may be very many alien technological societies out there. Many of them, they argue, may be much older than human societies and far more technologically advanced.
| + | 在文章中 Morrison 和 Cocconi 坦率的承认无法估计在遥远的恒星上存在着有文明行星的可能性。不过,根据现在唯一的可能例子 - 即是在地球上的人类 - 他们认为不能排除存在很多地外文明的可能,而且他们之中会有比人类历史更悠久、技术更先进的文明存在。 |
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− | The aliens, furthermore, would in all likelihood consider our Sun to be a likely candidate for the formation of a technologically advanced civilization, and would seek to make contact with it. The main question, according to Morrison and Cocconi, is what means would they choose?
| + | 外星人,再者,我们太阳也可能作为所有可能性的候选去成立一个科技先进的文明并去设法去互相沟通。根据 Morrison 和 Cocconi 的考虑,其中主要的问题就是他们会使用什么样的手段来实现? |
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− | Electromagnetic waves (radio waves, light waves, etc.) they argue are the obvious choice. Only these, traveling at the speed of light, can cross the fantastic distances involved without dispersing and in anything resembling a practical amount of time. This leads to the next crucial question: at what frequency will the aliens transmit their signal?
| + | 他们认为电磁波是理所当然的选择。只有这些以光速传输的东西才可以在无需分散而且相对现实的时间内跨越梦幻般的距离。这就导致了下面这么一个关键问题:外星人会使用什么频率进行信号传输? |
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− | The most rational frequencies for communication between the stars, Morrison and Cocconi argued, were between 1 and 10,000 MHz. Those are the frequencies in which the planetary atmosphere interferes the least with electromagnetic signals, and where radiation noise from our galaxy is also at a minimum. Several years later it was discovered that those were also frequencies in which there was little interference from Cosmic Background Radiation, but this was not known in 1959.
| + | Morrison 和 Cocconi 认为,最适合于星际间通讯的频率应该介于 1 到 10,000MHz 之间。这些频率被行星大气干扰最少,并且来自我们银河系的辐射噪声也最小。几年后人们还发现那些频率也几乎不会受到宇宙背景辐射的干扰,但 1959 年的时候这些还不清楚。 |
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− | [[Image:Cocconi_Morrison.gif|center|thumb|690px|'''SETI - the founding article'''<br> | + | [[Image:Cocconi_Morrison.gif|center|thumb|690px|'''SETI 的创立文件'''<br> |
− | The first page of Cocconi and Morrison's classical article in Nature, September 19, 1959. Credit: Nature Magazine]]
| + | Cocconi 和 Morrison 在 1959 年 9 月 19 日发表于自然杂志(Nature)的创始文章中的第一页。图片提供:自然杂志]] |
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− | A range of frequencies of 10,000 MHz is still far too wide for conducting a systematic search. Morrison and Cocconi therefore hazarded a guess that has shaped the course of SETI research to this day: The aliens, they argued, are most likely to be broadcasting at a frequency of 1420 MHz (wavelength of 21 cm). That is the emission frequency of the atom of the most common element in the universe - hydrogen. This frequency would suggest itself because it would be known to any observer in the universe. Any systematic search should begin here.
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| + | 10,000MHz 的频率范围对于进行系统的搜寻还是太宽了,因此 Morrison 和 Cocconi 为至今的 SETI 研究路线作出了一个大胆的猜测:他们认为,外星人最有可能在 1420MHz(波长 21 厘米)的频率进行广播。这是宇宙中最普通的元素 - 氢 - 的原子所放射的频率。宇宙中任何观察者都应该知道它,一个系统化的搜索就应该由此开始。 |
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− | The authors then made another observation, which has had a profound impact on the way SETI searches are conducted: any signal sent from a the aliens' orbiting planet to our orbiting planet would necessarily drift away from its original frequency. This is the result of the Doppler shift, familiar to anybody who has heard the change of pitch of a train's whistle as it passes by. Because the speed at which the planets are moving relative to each other constantly changes, the frequency of the transmission will inevitably drift over time. A search for an alien signal would have to take this drift into account, and search for a transmission whose frequency slowly changes.
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| + | 然后作者又做了其他观察,而这对 SETI 的运行方式产生了深远的影响:从外星人的星球所发出的任何信号当来到我们的星球时,它的频率必然已偏离其原始的频率。这是多普勒效应的结果,正如大家熟悉的火车在经过时音高随之变化的汽笛声。由于相对于不同行星的速度是不固定的,传输的频率也将不可避免的发生不同的漂移。在搜寻一个外星人信号必须考虑到这个频率漂移,搜寻一个频率慢慢改变的传输信号。 |
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− | Morrison and Cocconi concluded their article with a challenge to skeptical readers. Many, they admitted, would argue that this kind of speculation belongs in science fiction rather than science. This is not so: their argument, they claimed, shows that the presence of an alien signal is consistent with all that is presently known. They concluded with a challenge that has become the rallying cry for all SETI enthusiasts since: "The probability of success is difficult to estimate; but if we never search, the probability of success is zero."
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| + | Morrison 和 Cocconi 的文章的总结部分针对的是持怀疑论的读者,他们承认,肯定会有很多读者认为他们的猜想是属于科幻而不是科学的。而他们也声称,事实并非如此,他们认为外星信号的存在与所有目前已知的科学知识都是一致的。文章的最后,他们提出了一个口号,而这个口号已经成为之后所有 SETI 爱好者的口号:“成功的可能性无法估计;但是,如果我们不去搜索,那么成功率永远是零。” |
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− | ==相关链接==
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− | *[[SETI]]
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− | *[[SETI的历史]]
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− | [[Category:SETI@home相关文献]] | + | [[SETI 的历史|'''返回 SETI 的历史 ←''']] | [[SETI 的历史 - 1|'''第1章:星际传来的信号 ←''']] | [[SETI 的历史 - 3|'''→ 第3章:SETI 的蓝图''']] |
<资料来源:SETI's founding Moment>
第2章:SETI 成立的瞬间
当然,很难准确确定 SETI 的诞生日。这种对其他世界及其居民的幻想有一个悠久的历史,可以追溯到古老。甚至对太空进行无线电信号搜寻也可以回溯到无线电先驱者还在实验室进行初期无线电研究的时候,但现代 SETI 的历史有一个明确的开端。在 1959 年,Philip Morrison 和 Giuseppe copcconi 在康奈尔大学正研究着伽马射线。Morrison 回忆说:“在 1959 年的春天,我那聪明朋友 Giuseppe Cocconi 走进我的办公室并提出这样的疑问:伽马射线会不会是星际间沟通的非常手段?”Morrison 认同伽马射线能做到,但他建议应该考虑整个电磁频谱的所有可能性。
如此而来的结果是两篇简短的文章,于 1959 年 9 月 19 日发表在自然杂志,题为“探索星际通讯”,就是这被认为是现代 SETI 的创立文件。
在文章中 Morrison 和 Cocconi 坦率的承认无法估计在遥远的恒星上存在着有文明行星的可能性。不过,根据现在唯一的可能例子 - 即是在地球上的人类 - 他们认为不能排除存在很多地外文明的可能,而且他们之中会有比人类历史更悠久、技术更先进的文明存在。
外星人,再者,我们太阳也可能作为所有可能性的候选去成立一个科技先进的文明并去设法去互相沟通。根据 Morrison 和 Cocconi 的考虑,其中主要的问题就是他们会使用什么样的手段来实现?
他们认为电磁波是理所当然的选择。只有这些以光速传输的东西才可以在无需分散而且相对现实的时间内跨越梦幻般的距离。这就导致了下面这么一个关键问题:外星人会使用什么频率进行信号传输?
Morrison 和 Cocconi 认为,最适合于星际间通讯的频率应该介于 1 到 10,000MHz 之间。这些频率被行星大气干扰最少,并且来自我们银河系的辐射噪声也最小。几年后人们还发现那些频率也几乎不会受到宇宙背景辐射的干扰,但 1959 年的时候这些还不清楚。
SETI 的创立文件 Cocconi 和 Morrison 在 1959 年 9 月 19 日发表于自然杂志(Nature)的创始文章中的第一页。图片提供:自然杂志
10,000MHz 的频率范围对于进行系统的搜寻还是太宽了,因此 Morrison 和 Cocconi 为至今的 SETI 研究路线作出了一个大胆的猜测:他们认为,外星人最有可能在 1420MHz(波长 21 厘米)的频率进行广播。这是宇宙中最普通的元素 - 氢 - 的原子所放射的频率。宇宙中任何观察者都应该知道它,一个系统化的搜索就应该由此开始。
然后作者又做了其他观察,而这对 SETI 的运行方式产生了深远的影响:从外星人的星球所发出的任何信号当来到我们的星球时,它的频率必然已偏离其原始的频率。这是多普勒效应的结果,正如大家熟悉的火车在经过时音高随之变化的汽笛声。由于相对于不同行星的速度是不固定的,传输的频率也将不可避免的发生不同的漂移。在搜寻一个外星人信号必须考虑到这个频率漂移,搜寻一个频率慢慢改变的传输信号。
Morrison 和 Cocconi 的文章的总结部分针对的是持怀疑论的读者,他们承认,肯定会有很多读者认为他们的猜想是属于科幻而不是科学的。而他们也声称,事实并非如此,他们认为外星信号的存在与所有目前已知的科学知识都是一致的。文章的最后,他们提出了一个口号,而这个口号已经成为之后所有 SETI 爱好者的口号:“成功的可能性无法估计;但是,如果我们不去搜索,那么成功率永远是零。”
返回 SETI 的历史 ← | 第1章:星际传来的信号 ← | → 第3章:SETI 的蓝图