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Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence have focused on various signs of life.
寻找外星智慧都将焦点集中在各种各样的生命迹象中。
And one signature of alien intelligence may be, cough, cough, air pollution.
而外星智慧生命留下的一种标志可能是空气污染。
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, due to launch in 2018, should be powerful enough to detect chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs.
将于2018年发射的美国宇航局的詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜应该强大到足以检测氯氟化碳,氯氟烃。
These ozone-destroying chemicals are used in aerosol sprays on Earth.
这种能够破坏臭氧层的化学物质在地球上用于气雾喷雾器。
Maybe another planet's denizens also employ them.
而另一个星球的居民们也许使用这种物质。
A new analysis of this idea notes that aliens would have to be heavy users.
基于这一理念的新分析指出,我们的外星朋友们会非常依赖这种物质。
The Webb scope could only detect the chemicals if they were 10 times more prevalent than here on Earth.
韦伯太空望远镜只能检测到比在地球上更普遍10倍的该化学物质 。
And even then, the planet would have to orbit a special kind of star, a white dwarf, for the CFCs to show up.
即使如此, 环绕白矮星运行类地行星上的含氯氟烃指数成了科学家们研究的对象。
White dwarfs—the ultimate destiny of stars like the sun—maximize the pollution signal.
类似太阳一样终极命运的恒星白矮星使得污染的信号最大化。
The study is in the Astrophysical Journal.
这项研究已经在《天体物理学杂志》上发表。
CFCs could hang around in a planet's atmosphere for a long time.
氯氟烃会在一颗行星的大气层停留很长一段时间。
So if an extraterrestrial civilization wised up and stopped polluting, we might still see the effects.
所以如果外星文明识破我们的伎俩,停止污染,我们仍然会看到效果。
Even a society that managed to destroy itself long ago could leave a chemical trace.
甚至很久以前一个曾经使自己毁灭的社会文明也能够留下化学痕迹。
Let's hope that's not how they discover us.
让我们祈祷外星朋友们不是凭借这点寻找到曾经的我们。
