研究人员们发现了一颗巨型恒星，其大气成分前所未见。他们认为这个庞大的物体是由两颗 “白矮星” 合并而成的，通常白矮星会以强大的超新星的形式爆炸。  

 

The new star is what astronomers¹ call a 'white dwarf²'. It's what stars like the Sun become at the end of their lives when they've used up all their nuclear fuel.

这颗新星被天文学家称为 “白矮星”。它是像太阳这样的恒星在它们生命的尽头，耗尽所有核燃料后演化成的星体。

 

The star loses most of its atmosphere, leaving a very hot core. The heavier atoms in the atmosphere sink and the lighter³ ones remain at the surface. Some white dwarves⁴ have almost pure hydrogen or helium atmospheres, but this star has an atmosphere unusually high in the heavier element, carbon.

这颗恒星失去了大部分大气层，留下了一个炽热的核。大气中较重的原子下沉，而较轻的原子留在表面。一些白矮星的大气中几乎只有纯氢或氦，但这颗星的大气中重元素碳的含量异常高。

 

Computer modelling indicates it could have been created by the merger⁵ of two such stars. This suggests that such occurrences might be more common than previously⁶ thought.

计算机模型显示，这颗星可能由两颗类似的恒星合并而成。这表明，这种星体存在的数量可能比人们之前认为的更普遍。

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