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Seeing is believing. And then disbelieving. And maybe believing once more.
眼見為實，后引起懷疑，或許最后又再次相信。
The exoplanet Fomalhaut b was the first one photographed with visible light. Researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted it in 2008, orbiting a star 25 light-years away. The sighting made big news, because almost all exoplanet discoveries before or since were indirect detections. But with Fomalhaut b, astronomers could actually see the planet.
這個名為“北落師門b”的系外行星是第一個用可視光拍到的行星。研究人員于2008年用哈勃望遠鏡定位到這顆行星，它圍繞著一顆25光年之外的恒星公轉。這一發現引起轟動，因為此前幾乎所有系外行星的發現都是間接探測到的。但“北落師門b”卻是個例外，宇航員們確實用肉眼看見了它。
Well, some astronomers. Researchers using the Spitzer Space Telescope could not see Fomalhaut b at all in infrared light. They concluded that what Hubble had seen was probably just a transient dust cloud.
不過，有些宇航員卻不能。宇航員用斯皮策太空望遠鏡拍攝的紅外線圖里根本沒有它的身影。于是他們總結道：哈勃望遠鏡拍攝到的可能只是瞬間形成的粉塵云。
Now two new studies posted at arxiv.org have strengthened the planetary argument. Two teams reanalyzed the data and confirmed that there is something there. But what? One group concluded that the object could be the debris from a smashup of two small objects, or it could be a planet surrounded by a disk of dust. The other group favors the hypothesis that Fomalhaut b is an exoplanet, albeit one shrouded in dust.
目前，另兩項發表在 arXiv.org 上的新研究強化了行星論論點。兩組研究人員重新分析了數據，證實確實有物體存在。但是什么呢? 一組研究人員得出的結論是：它可能是兩個星體碰撞過后的碎片，或者是一個有碟狀粉塵圍繞的行星。另一組更傾向于“北落師門b”是籠罩在塵云中的系外行星這一假設。
Paul Kalas, one of the planet's original discoverers, says he will have new data to show in January. Until then, it's either Fomalhaut or Fomal-naught.
這個行星的最初發現者之一保羅·卡拉斯說：他會于一月份提交新的數據來證明。行星與否，到時在判斷吧。
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