A long, thin object moving through our solar system may be the remains of a planet that was pulled apart, scientists say.

科学家说，在太阳系中移动的细长天体可能是一颗被撕裂的行星的残骸。

Researchers say the planet was likely destroyed long ago when it moved either too far from or too close to the star it once orbited.

研究人员说，这颗行星很可能在很久以前就被摧毁了，当时这颗行星离它曾经环绕的恒星距离要么过远，要么过近。

The object is called Oumuamua, which means "messenger from afar" in the native Hawaiian language.

这个物体被称为“Oumuamua”，在夏威夷土语中的意思是“来自远方的信使”。

A report on the recent findings appears in the journal Nature Astronomy.

一份关于其最新发现的报告发表在《自然天文学》期刊上。

Scientists have been trying to understand more about Oumuamua since its discovery in 2017.

自“Oumuamua”于2017年被发现以来，科学家们一直试图了解更多有关它的信息。

Some have even proposed it may be an alien spacecraft.

一些人甚至提出这可能是一艘外星飞船。

In the recently published research, astronomers Yun Zhang and Douglas Lin said

在最近发表的研究中，天文学家张云和道格拉斯·林说，

computer predictions suggest the object was a piece of a planet or planetary building block.

计算机预测表明，该物体是行星或行星构造块的一块碎片。

The planet might have been torn apart by its star's "tidal forces."

这颗行星可能已经被其母恒星的“潮汐力”撕裂了。

Oumuamua is the first object from another star system found passing through our solar system.

“Oumuamua是发现的第一个来自另一个恒星系统穿越我们太阳系的星际物体。

It is about 400 meters long.

它大约有400米长。

Its shape, strange way of moving and lack of dust and gases suggest it is not a normal comet or asteroid.

它的形状，奇怪的移动方式和缺乏尘埃和气体表明它不是一颗普通的彗星或小行星。

When a smaller body passes near a much bigger one, tidal forces created by the larger body can destroy the smaller one.

当一个较小的物体经过一个大得多的物体附近时，较大的物体产生的潮汐力可以摧毁较小的物体。

This is what happened when comet Shoemaker –Levy 9 came too close to the planet Jupiter in 1992.

这就是1992年舒梅克-列维9号彗星太接近木星时所发生的事情。

Zhang told the Reuters news agency that most planetary bodies are made of groups of rocks joined under the influence of gravity.

张告诉路透社，大多数行星体是由在引力作用下结合在一起的岩石群组成的。

In a way, they are similar to the sandcastles that children make at the beach,

在某种程度上，它们类似于孩子们在海滩上建造的沙堡，

except that they are floating through space, Zhang said.

只不过它们是漂浮在太空中的，张说。

"Their structure can be disrupted when the force acting on the individual ‘sand particle’ is larger than their mutual gravity," he added.

“当作用在单个‘沙粒’上的力大于它们的相互引力时，它们的结构可能会被破坏，”他补充说。

Zhang noted that ocean tides on Earth are affected in this way.

张指出，地球上的海洋潮汐就是这样受到影响的。

Tides result from the gravitational pulls of the sun and moon.

潮汐是由太阳和月亮的引力引起的。

In space, a planetary body that comes close enough to a star falls victim to its strong gravitational pull.

在太空中，离恒星足够近的行星会受到强大的引力的影响，成为其牺牲品。

Lin is an astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

林是加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的天体物理学家。

He said the star that destroyed Oumuamua 's home world probably was one-tenth to eight-tenths of the mass of our sun.

他说，摧毁Oumuamua家园的那颗恒星其质量可能是太阳的十分之一到十分之八。

Or it might have been a rare kind of cool and dense star called a white dwarf, Lin added.

林补充说，或者这可能是一种罕见的寒冷且致密的恒星，被称为白矮星。

The study suggests the existence of many objects formed this way.

研究表明，许多物体的存在就是以这种方式形成的。

"We show the possibility of panspermia carried by these objects," Zhang said.

“我们证明了这些物体携带能够产生生命的物质（被称为“有生源说”）的可能性。”张说。

Panspermia is the hypothesized spread of microorganisms or chemicals that support life on objects moving through space.

有生源说是假设在太空移动的物体上维系生命的微生物或化学物质四处传播。

Oumuamua is continuing on its path out of our solar system.

Oumuamua正在继续穿行，离开我们的太阳系。

I'm Pete Musto.

皮特·穆斯托为您播报。