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As Dr. Soran, the bad guy in the movie Star Trek: Generations, found out, blowing up a star sometimes takes a few tries.
正如電影《星際迷航》里的壞人，索蘭博士一樣：發現，炸毀一個星球有時要經過幾代人的數次努力。
Such was also the case for an object called SN 2009ip. It's a star in a galaxy about 80 million light-years away. Or, rather, it was a star.
這種情況也出現在一個叫做“SN 2009ip”的飛行物上。它是一顆恒星，距離銀河系大約有八千萬光年。或者說它曾是一顆恒星。
It first drew attention in 2009, when it flared up brightly in an apparent supernova—a star exploding at the end of its life. But it was soon unmasked as a supernova impostor—a nonfatal outburst from a massive star that only looks like a full-blown supernova.
在2009年它首次引起人們注意，當時它驟然爆炸成為一顆超新星，并發出閃耀的光芒。超新星就是恒星在演化末期時經歷的一種劇烈爆炸。但很快這個假超新星被科學家識破了——它是一個大質量恒星的非致命性的爆炸，只是看起來像一次非凡的超新星爆炸。
Following two subsequent flare-ups, astronomers have now concluded that SN 2009ip has gone supernova at last. During a 2012 outburst, the star brightened much more than usual, becoming a billion times as luminous as the sun. And spectroscopic observations revealed that gas was racing outward at roughly 8,000 kilometers per second. Speeds that high indicate a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the collapse of the star's core. The research will appear in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
接著又發生兩起爆炸現象，宇航員總結道：最終 SN 2009ip 還是變成了超新星。在2012年的爆炸中，它比以往更加閃耀，其亮度是太陽的十億倍。且光譜觀測進一步揭示了爆炸形成的氣流是以每秒大約八千公里的速度向外擴散。這樣快的速度說明這種災難性的爆炸是由恒星的核心崩潰引起的。這項研究將發表在《皇家天文學會月刊》上。
Astronomers now have the rare opportunity to study details of a supernova—both before and after.
現在宇航家有了一次難得的機會來研究超新星演化過程的細節。
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