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When it comes to telescopes, bigger is better. But it's not always that much better. A new analysis shows that many of the highest-profile astronomy findings come from giant, world-class mountaintop telescopes—but the little guys are making surprising contributions, too.
提到望遠(yuǎn)鏡，當(dāng)然是體積越大越好。但情況并不總是這樣。一項新的分析指出許多最引人注目的天文發(fā)現(xiàn)都來自于世界級的巨型山頂望遠(yuǎn)鏡，但小型望遠(yuǎn)鏡也能做出令人驚異的貢獻。
The typical study using the largest observatories goes on to receive 29 percent more citations in subsequent research, when compared to studies utilizing more modest two- to four-meter telescopes. But those big-scope studies cost about four times as much. The analysis applies only to ground-based observatories.
在后續(xù)研究中，相比利用2至4米長的望遠(yuǎn)鏡所作的研究，這項在使用世界上最大天文臺所作的典型研究多接收了29%的訊息。然而那些大望遠(yuǎn)鏡的成本卻是小望遠(yuǎn)鏡的4倍。這項分析只適用于地表觀測站。
The study, which appeared in the Astronomical Journal, notes that large, expensive observatories aren't exactly a waste of money. Only big telescopes can observe the faint, distant objects that existed just after the big bang. But those telescopes are also so sought-after that it can be a challenge just to get in the door.
這項研究刊登在《天文期刊》上，它指出龐大，昂貴的天文臺并非完全是浪費金錢。只有巨型的望遠(yuǎn)鏡才能觀測到宇宙大爆炸之后存在的模糊而又遙遠(yuǎn)的星球。但那些小型望遠(yuǎn)鏡也廣受歡迎，因為這也是跨入門檻的不小的挑戰(zhàn)。
Smaller observatories often have greater availability, so they can grant observing time to riskier projects that might fizzle out—or produce a breakthrough discovery.
規(guī)模小的觀測站常常可用性更高，因此能保證有足夠的時間來觀測稍縱即逝的高風(fēng)險項目。或許也有可能產(chǎn)生突破性的發(fā)現(xiàn)。
So small telescopes give you more bang for your buck. But some bangs are just too big for them to handle.
因此小型望遠(yuǎn)鏡會給你帶來意想不到的驚喜。然而對于那些規(guī)模龐大的天文現(xiàn)象，小型望遠(yuǎn)鏡就不適用了。
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