Chapter 365 The layout of the God King
"What have I been doing lately?"
Next to Xu Yun.
Zhang Heguang raised his eyebrows, spread his hands helplessly, and sighed:
"What the hell else can I do in such a bad place?"
"In the morning, I turn on the computer, get a glass of water, read literature, type code, and get scolded by the instructor."
"Then have lunch at noon, play with the cat, take a nap, and watch a drama. In the afternoon, turn on the computer, get a glass of water, read literature, type code, and continue to be scolded by the instructor."
"."
Looking at Zhang Heguang, who had a sad expression on his face, a trace of sympathy suddenly appeared on Xu Yun's face.
Speaking of the four words astrophysics, this picture may pop up in most people's minds:
Against the vast and deep dark blue background, a huge planet is shining with dazzling light, surrounded by several other smaller stars.
The tails of those stars drag light white tracks, forming a rotating vortex with the central planet
But actually.
Astrophysics is a major that involves a lot of mathematical formulas.
Most of them just read literature and push formulas every day, and then make a cup of wolfberry tea and sigh about life
Of course.
For doctoral students like Zhang Heguang, they can participate in other large and small projects in between hard days.
So after finishing his rant, Zhang Heguang still had a grimace on his face and started counting his fingers:
"In addition to the literature, HKUST has recently subcontracted part of the sky survey data analysis, and this job fell on me. I feel like I am almost redshifted."
"There are also some projects of LAMOST and HXMT, as well as research on black hole models and X-ray binary star systems. Anyway, they are very boring."
Xu Yun nodded thoughtfully.
Then he quickly glanced at Zhang Heguang and found that the other person's attention was not on him, so he pretended to be curious and asked:
"X-ray binary star system? Lao Zhang, I remember there were reports before that our solar system may also be a binary star system. Is there a star in the far distance of the solar system? Is there any progress now?"
"What progress can be made?"
Zhang Heguang snorted disdainfully and spread his hands:
"It's just some marketing accounts setting the pace. Nemesis Star is almost as cool as Wu Sign right now."
"If you search on NASA, you will know that the last project team to explore the planet Nemesis was disbanded last year due to lack of funds. The project mentor is now playing guitar and singing on TikTok every day - this is true."< br>
Xu Yun: ".?"
Good guy.
I asked myself casually, but the follow-up content is so exciting?
Perhaps because Xu Yun’s words aroused his interest, Zhang Heguang continued to add:
"However, compared to the elusive second star in the solar system, the current research on the ninth planet is quite hot."
Xu Yun was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked after coming back to his senses:
"How to say?"
Zhang Heguang thought for a while, put his hand into his trouser pocket and took out his mobile phone.
After a few tinkerings, he created a page and handed it to Xu Yun:
"Well, it's the Pluto killer Mike Brown. They recently discovered an asteroid with an abnormal orbit."
"And the deflection trajectory of this asteroid is higher than the original six examples. It is difficult to explain it by pure chance, so the probability of Planet Nine is immediately raised."
Xu Yun took the phone with some subtle emotions and looked at it carefully.
Sure enough.
As Zhang Heguang said, the Mike Brown team, which has been working with Kuiper Belt celestial bodies in recent years, announced the discovery of an asteroid orbit anomaly.
Mentioned earlier.
Currently, the most critical evidence supporting the existence of Planet Nine is the movement trajectories of six stars: Sedna, 2004VN112, 2007TG422, 2010GB174, 2012VP113, and 2013RFS98.
The orbits of these six asteroids have certain similarities. For example, the direction of perihelion has a tendency to gather in a certain direction, etc., and ultimately a common source of gravity can be deduced.
But this is just pure data analysis, and there are other explanations for this situation.
Therefore, this topic has always been controversial.
The result was unexpected.
Mike Brown, the Pluto killer, actually discovered a new asteroid.
Of course.
This asteroid still cannot be regarded as substantial evidence. It can only be said that it makes Planet Nine more likely in mathematical calculations.
Then Xu Yun handed the phone back to Zhang Heguang, remained silent for a moment, and asked:
"Lao Zhang, when was this discovery announced?"
Zhang Heguang took the phone, put it back into his trouser pocket after the screen was turned off, and recalled:
"It's been a while, maybe three or four months?"
When Xu Yun heard this, a trace of thought flashed in his eyes.
At this time, less than two months have passed since he returned to reality, which means that the discovery of Mike Brown's team should have nothing to do with the Halo mission.
It's just that due to professional barriers, Xu Yun had never noticed this information before.
That seems to be a pure coincidence
On the other side, Zhang Heguang's voice was still heard:
"So in the past few months, many laboratories at home and abroad have re-researched this topic."
"For example, there are three project teams affiliated with NASA and five under the European Space Agency. Counting various observatories and universities, the number should not be too small."
"There are probably six or seven project teams here in China. Of course, the number seems to be large, but in fact the funds approved are relatively limited - in the final analysis, it is just a probability."
Xu Yun nodded in understanding.
This is a well-understood situation - because there are so many astronomical phenomena in the universe.
In the vast sky, there are countless examples more shocking than the orbital deviation of a certain asteroid.
Scenes such as Tabby's Star, the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, the Eternal Light Peaks, etc. are all mysterious and shocking.
It may be possible to write an excellent paper about the anomalies of a certain star, but if you want to use it to obtain high scientific research funds, the possibility is very low.
Then Xu Yun was silent for a moment, and continued to pose a question as if nothing had happened:
"Tsk, tsk, the ninth largest planet in the solar system, Lao Zhang, have you got any results from your laboratory?"
Although the Astronomy Department of the University of Science and Technology of China is not well-known within the school, it is well-known in the industry.
For example, the Purple Mountain Observatory’s graduate school has been placed under the name of HKUST, and half of domestic astronomical institutions are related to HKUST.
Therefore, Xu Yun's question sounds quite normal to Zhang Heguang - it is not certain internationally, but if there is any domestic institution that is most likely to produce results in Planet Nine, then USTC is obviously the best answer:
"Not yet, LAMOST has just sent two images, and the results of the part that have been released so far are not very optimistic."
Xu Yun was slightly startled:
"LAMOST?"
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Xu Yun's expression, Zhang Heguang looked him up and down quickly:
"If you dare to criticize LAMOST, don't blame me for beating you up."
Xu Yun quickly waved his hand:
"No, no, I just haven't heard LAMOST for a long time, don't think too much."
Speaking of China’s famous telescopes, one word may pop up in most people’s minds:
Guizhou Sky Eye.
That is the 500-meter radio telescope FAST.
But in addition to FAST, China also has several famous telescopes.
For example, the Magic City 25-meter radio telescope,
Purple Mountain Observatory Qinghai Delingha 13.7-meter comprehensive aperture millimeter wave radio telescope,
and
The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, LAMOST, has had mixed reviews.
The LAMOST project was established in 1997, construction started in 2001, and passed national acceptance in June 2009.
In April 2010, it was named the "Guo Shoujing Telescope", and in September 2012, the official sky survey was launched.
It is a major scientific and technological infrastructure with extremely high investment in our country. However, after operation, it exposed a big problem:
She did not achieve the set goals in terms of effectiveness, and the sky survey beyond the Milky Way, that is, outside the Milky Way, almost completely failed.
Because extragalactic galaxies are much dimmer than stars, LAMOST’s design magnitude is 20.5, but LAMOST’s actual survey magnitude can only reach magnitude 18. As mentioned before, the magnitude is very special, and the lower it is, the brighter it is.
But you have to know.
Galaxies brighter than magnitude 17.7 have been fully observed by the SDSS.
In other words, the new stars discovered by LAMOST are at most between 17.7 and 18.0.
As of June 2017.
LAMOST actually observed more than three million extragalactic objects, but in the end only obtained effective spectra of 150,000 galaxies and 50,000 quasars, which was only 2% of the original spectrum of tens of millions of extragalactic objects.
So in terms of its stated goals, it was relatively unsuccessful.
But on the other hand.
With both reputation and reputation destroyed, what happens to the reputation?
That is, although LAMOST is too low-key in the extragalactic galaxy, the effect in Hanoi has reached the top in the world.
Well, not only top-notch, but top-notch.
In terms of galactic science, LAMOST is comparable to other stellar surveys in the world, such as apogee in the fourth phase of the SDSS.
He has made extremely outstanding contributions to the research on special stars, galaxy weighing, and dark matter in the solar field.
So all the time.
The controversy surrounding LAMOST has never dissipated.
Diss means that the universe is so vast, and the Milky Way is just a very small corner, at most the entrance to your home.
Investing so much without seeing it outside the home is an irrefutable failure.
Those who support it believe that we originally wanted to hunt a rabbit, but the rabbit missed the target and hit a pheasant. This actually makes no difference - the Milky Way is already big enough for humans, and it would be nice to be able to study the stars in it. OK?
The Department of Astronomy of HKUST has played a significant role in LAMOST. Therefore, for students of the Department of Astronomy of HKUST, LAMOST naturally brings their own filters.
The topic returns to reality.
Seeing that Xu Yun did not have any sarcastic expression, Zhang Heguang nodded:
"Although LAMOST's effect on extragalactic galaxies is average, there are not many that can surpass it in the Milky Way, even internationally."
"So if nothing else happens, there will still be no new discoveries about Planet Nine in the short term."
As he said something, he suddenly thought of something and half-jokingly said to Xu Yun:
"Why don't you, Lao Xu, come to my team to help? There are tens of millions of photos to analyze."
The "photo" mentioned by Zhang Heguang is slightly different from the photo in reality. It is an observation record composed of wave bands.
The science and technology in 2022 is different from the wheat replica in 1850. In the replica, it took all the observatories around the world to collect 30,000 observation records in one year, but in 2022, it can achieve an almost infinite level.
In 2022.
The general pattern of an astronomical telescope is as follows:
Take a lot of photos, then first remove the cosmic rays, then reduce the background, dark current, and flat field, and then you can get black and white photos of the band.
Finally, the multi-band photos are given pseudo-color and then synthesized, and you can see the photos you see online.
So don’t forget that Hubble only transmits 120G of information every week. In fact, it is all band content, and the amount after analysis is unimaginable—it’s just that most of it is useless.
Zhang and Guang's mission is to filter moving celestial bodies through these pictures.
For example, if the interval between photos is 20 minutes, then an algorithm needs to be used to screen whether there is a planet in the photo that is displacing at a speed of XX arcseconds - because stars do not move.
What moves is either an asteroid, a large planet inside or outside the system, a comet, or...
alien.
It’s just that the scale of the universe is too large, and comets or meteorites often appear in the solar system.
Therefore, this kind of screening work is still very difficult even with the assistance of supercomputers.
Next to the observation deck.
Hearing Zhang Heguang's words, Xu Yun was stunned again.
Then he looked at Zhang Heguang seriously for a few seconds and confirmed:
"Old Zhang, are you kidding me? - Let me tell you, my buddy is really interested in this matter."
"Are you kidding? This is not a highly confidential research."
Zhang Heguang rolled his eyes at him and explained:
"The job is to use computer computing power to analyze images. Although our department is small, we undertake many projects, so there is not much computing power left for me."
"Can you believe it like last week when I only got 5,000 cores?"
"If you are willing to help, forget it later. Today is too late. Let's do it tomorrow. I will add you to the group tomorrow."
"To tell you the truth, I borrowed the computers of several of my junior students. Ahem, they all volunteered to help."
"High and Low is just an analysis program. It is open source to the outside world. Just go to the Academy of Sciences website and download it - not only you who are engaged in physics, but also those who are engaged in geography can participate."
Looking at Zhang Heguang who was swearing, the expression on Xu Yun's face was still calm, but his mood was vaguely subtle.
This is considered.
Someone sent me Maple Blossom Love when I wanted to sleep?
To know.
Today he seemed to be leading a team to visit the observatory, but his actual purpose was to find out about the God King.
According to Xu Yun's original plan.
If the current astronomical community's research on the ninth planet in the solar system is relatively slow, then everything must be considered in the long term.
However, if its popularity is moderate recently, then you can look for opportunities to get involved.
The result was unexpected.
Due to Mike Brown's new discovery, this research direction has regained popularity, and even the University of Science and Technology has participated in it.
In this way.
Xu Yun's hidden color suddenly reached its highest level.
Therefore, in just a few seconds, Xu Yun had made up his mind.
I saw him looking at Zhang Heguang and said seriously:
"Son, take your father with you." (End of Chapter)