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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.
正如电影《星际迷航》里的坏人，索兰博士一样：发现，炸毁一个星球有时要经过几代人的数次努力。
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.
这种情况也出现在一个叫做“SN 2009ip”的飞行物上。它是一颗恒星，距离银河系大约有八千万光年。或者说它曾是一颗恒星。
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年它首次引起人们注意，当时它骤然爆炸成为一颗超新星，并发出闪耀的光芒。超新星就是恒星在演化末期时经历的一种剧烈爆炸。但很快这个假超新星被科学家识破了——它是一个大质量恒星的非致命性的爆炸，只是看起来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.
接着又发生两起爆炸现象，宇航员总结道：最终 SN 2009ip 还是变成了超新星。在2012年的爆炸中，它比以往更加闪耀，其亮度是太阳的十亿倍。且光谱观测进一步揭示了爆炸形成的气流是以每秒大约八千公里的速度向外扩散。这样快的速度说明这种灾难性的爆炸是由恒星的核心崩溃引起的。这项研究将发表在《皇家天文学会月刊》上。
Astronomers now have the rare opportunity to study details of a supernova—both before and after.
现在宇航家有了一次难得的机会来研究超新星演化过程的细节。
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