HD 131399Ab orbits the system's brightest star, HD 131399A, at a distance of about 7.6 billion miles. That's roughly 82 times the average distance from the Earth to the sun ― and, according to the astronomers behind the discovery, the widest orbit ever seen for a planet in a triple-star system.
HD 131399Ab绕行的星球是其星系中最亮的一颗——HD 131399A行星,两者之间的距离大概是76亿英里.这一距离大约是地日平均距离的82倍,并且,发现该行星的天文学家称,HD 131399Ab星球的绕行轨道在三星星系中是最宽的.
The other two stars in the system, HD 131399B and HD 131399C, twirl around each other as they orbit HD 131399A at a distance that's 300 to 400 times greater than the distance from the Earth to the sun.
这一星系中另外两颗行星,HD 131399B行星 和 HD 131399C行星在绕行HD 131399A行星的同时互绕旋转,它们绕行的距离则是地日距离的300至400倍.
The newfound planet was discovered using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. The ESO is supported by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland Chile and the United Kingdom. Researchers published a paper on their findings Thursday in the journal Science.
发现HD 131399Ab行星的天文望远镜是位于智利北部的欧南台巨大望远镜阵列.欧南台是由澳大利亚、比利时、巴西、捷克共和国、丹麦、法国、芬兰、德国、意大利、荷兰、波兰、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典、瑞士、智利和英国这些国家联合创办的.研究人员周四在《科学》杂志上发表文章阐述他们的新发现.
Kevin Wagner, a University of Arizona Ph.D. student and the paper's lead author, told The Huffington Post in an email that the system's configuration is "surprising and extreme."
凯文·瓦格纳是亚利桑那州一所大学的博士研究生,他是这篇文章的第一作者,他在电邮中告诉《赫芬顿邮报》的记者,新行星所在的星系结构令人叹为观止.
It's also a bit precarious.
但这颗行星同时也潜伏着危机.
"If the planet was further away from the most massive star in the system, it would be kicked out of the system," Dr. Daniel Apai, assistant professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the university and co-author of the paper, said in a news release.
丹尼尔·阿派博士是这所大学天文与行星专业的助理教授,同时也是这篇文章的联合作者,他在报道中称："如果HD 131399Ab行星离星系中最大的行星再远一点的话,它就会被踢出这一星系."
"Our computer simulations have shown that this type of orbit can be stable, but if you change things around just a little bit, it can become unstable very quickly."
"我们做出的电脑模拟效果图显示,这一星系的运行轨道一般来说是稳定的,但是一旦其周围的物体发生变动,它就会瞬间变得不稳定."
Stable or not, HD 131399A is fascinating to astronomers in part because it helps fill in gaps in our knowledge of how planets form and change orbit.
无论稳定与否,HD 131399A星系对天文学家们有着巨大的吸引力,一部分是因为它的发现填补了我们现有知识的一处空白,即行星如何形成以及如何变动轨道.
英文来源：赫芬顿邮报
