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Seeing is believing. And then disbelieving. And maybe believing once more.
眼见为实，后引起怀疑，或许最后又再次相信。
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.
这个名为“北落师门b”的系外行星是第一个用可视光拍到的行星。研究人员于2008年用哈勃望远镜定位到这颗行星，它围绕着一颗25光年之外的恒星公转。这一发现引起轰动，因为此前几乎所有系外行星的发现都是间接探测到的。但“北落师门b”却是个例外，宇航员们确实用肉眼看见了它。
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.
不过，有些宇航员却不能。宇航员用斯皮策太空望远镜拍摄的红外线图里根本没有它的身影。于是他们总结道：哈勃望远镜拍摄到的可能只是瞬间形成的粉尘云。
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，另两项发表在 arXiv.org 上的新研究强化了行星论论点。两组研究人员重新分析了数据，证实确实有物体存在。但是什么呢? 一组研究人员得出的结论是：它可能是两个星体碰撞过后的碎片，或者是一个有碟状粉尘围绕的行星。另一组更倾向于“北落师门b”是笼罩在尘云中的系外行星这一假设。
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.
这个行星的最初发现者之一保罗·卡拉斯说：他会于一月份提交新的数据来证明。行星与否，到时在判断吧。
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