Annihilation of the solar system

Liu Chaowen leaned his head against the window, looking carefully at the telescope on the mountain top in a daze. Xia Lan glanced at Liu Chaowen's entranced expression through the reflector, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he could read the junior brother's thoughts:

“Have you ever gone to an observatory to observe the stars before?”

Liu Chaowen shook his head, his eyes still not leaving the distant observatory:

"I haven't been there, I just saw some photos taken by the observatory and rendered radio astronomy images from Teacher Shen."

Xia Lan was somewhat proud:

"Although the imaging effects of current cameras have exceeded the ultimate resolution of the human eye. However, only when you directly see the stars and the sea through the eyepiece of the telescope can your soul be truly shocked by the vastness of the universe."

The car entered the observatory gate and drove straight to the canteen.

There were already four people, three men and one woman, waiting at the door of the canteen. The car stopped, and several people immediately gathered around laughing.

As soon as the car door opened, someone was helping Liu Chaowen with his luggage, and someone was holding his hand towards the cafeteria. This made Liu Chaowen a little uncomfortable and panicked, and Xia Lan's voice came from behind:

"What are you doing? You scared my junior brother. Don't be nagging, I'll leave on my own."

She walked to Liu Chaowen and opened the hands holding Liu Chaowen's sleeves one by one:

"Chaowen, don't mind, these are our senior brothers and sisters. We are all students of Teacher Shen, and we are doing sky survey and observation projects here. They are usually like this, laughing and joking."

Liu Chaowen looked at the curious smiling faces around him. The embarrassment on his face had not faded. He smiled reluctantly and whispered:

"Hello, senior brothers and sisters, please take care of me in the future."

A petite girl with black-rimmed glasses, a ponytail, and a young-looking face said:

"Stop standing here and go in to eat quickly. The food is almost cold. Junior brother must be hungry too. Let's eat first."

Liu Chaowen followed everyone to the canteen. Today was the weekend, and it was already past dinner time, so there was no one else in the canteen. There were seven or eight plates on the table, which was quite rich. Xia Lan asked Liu Chaowen to sit down.

He also sat next to him:

"In order to leave an impression on you, senior brothers and sisters, this table is all made by themselves. There are various flavors. Eat more depending on what you like to eat. It's been a long journey today, so you must eat well."

Liu Chaowen smiled slightly:

"I'm really troubling all senior brothers and sisters."

Xia Lan glanced at everyone present:

"Let me introduce myself first."

Just now, when they were trying to help Liu Chaowen carry his suitcase, the fat boy spoke first:

"My name is Wei Xu, just call me Lao Wei. I was engaged in theoretical physics before, but then I switched to astronomy after I was a graduate student. I have read many of your papers, junior brother. Although I have no achievements in theoretical physics, junior brother

I am really impressed by your eloquent remarks..."

Wei Xu's enthusiastic introduction was interrupted by Xia Lan's deliberate coughing:

"Ahem, what are you doing, Old Wei? You forgot what the teacher told you. Do you still want to eat?"

Wei Xu quickly clasped his hands together with an awkward smile on his face:

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Chaowen couldn't control it. I'll talk about it later. I'll talk about it later."

The girl with black-rimmed glasses next to Wei Xu stood up:

"My name is Liu Mengzhu, and I am also a student of Teacher Shen. Welcome to our research group."

A thin boy with a pair of thick glasses next to him said:

"My name is Yang Fan, majoring in astrophysics. Please give me more advice in the future."

The last one to speak was a tall, thin, handsome boy with Korean-style bangs. His voice was as magnetic as a singer:

"My name is Lin Tianyu, Xia Lan's classmate. If you need anything in the future, just tell us. The teacher has already told me that he will take good care of you."

After speaking, he glanced at Xia Lan who was standing aside. Xia Lan remained calm and did not look at him. After the introduction, they had dinner in a cheerful atmosphere, and the night had slowly fallen.

Arriving at the open space outside the canteen, Xia Lan raised her head and glanced at the starry sky that fascinated her, and the stars were already twinkling:

"Let me take you to the dormitory first. Your senior brothers have already made the bed for you."

Liu Chaowen looked at the Near-Earth Object Observation Building not far away, shrouded in dim lights, with a somewhat dazed expression:

"Okay Sister Lan, uh... can you give me a copy of the observation data of Oumuamua?"

A complicated expression flashed across Xia Lan's face:

"Chaowen, you are so tired today, do you still need to read the information? How about we rest today and read it tomorrow."

Liu Chaowen was a little embarrassed and said nothing for a while.

Xia Lan understood his thoughts from his expression. He simply said:

"Why don't you go to the dormitory to put your luggage first, and I'll ask Lao Wei to send you a copy from the office in the observation building later?"

Liu Chaowen's face became less embarrassed:

"No need to go to such trouble, I'll put my luggage away and go directly to the office to take a look."

Xia Lan nodded:

"Okay. Then you and Lao Wei go to the dormitory. I'll wait for you in the observation building."

Lao Wei dragged Liu Chaowen's suitcase and strode ahead. Although Liu Chaowen said several times that he could carry the luggage, he couldn't resist Lao Wei's half-joking and half-serious lecture with a playful smile.

In the end, he had no choice but to follow Wei Xu, who was one size larger than him, towards the dormitory building like a little brother following his elder brother.

Others also went to the Near-Earth Object Observation Building because they had observation missions tonight.

The Near-Earth Object Telescope is a hemispherical building more than ten meters high. Inside the hemisphere is the most advanced Schmidt optical telescope in China. Next to the telescope is the observation room.

There is a large LCD screen on one wall of the observation room, which currently displays the background image of the National Astronomical Observatory and the words Near-Earth Object Telescope.

Most of the space in the observation room is occupied by desks with computers and a row of file cabinets against the wall. Xia Lan and her research team came to the office, sat down in their respective seats, and took out the data from today's sky survey.

The preparations started. After a while, the office door opened, and Wei Xu led Liu Chaowen to an empty desk and sat down:

"You sit down for a while, junior brother, and I'll get you some information."

Liu Chaowen sat down and carefully scanned the surroundings, just like the first class of a junior high school transfer student.

After a while, Wei Xu took a stack of information from the filing cabinet and placed it on the desk in front of Liu Chao's tattoo, and then divided them into three stacks:

"This pile of English data is the observation data of the Central Pacific Observatory, and the middle pile is the observation data of our National Observatory. There is a lot of overlap between the two data."

Wei Xu pointed to the photo on the profile, with the small dot circled in red:

"The last stack is the observation data of the last month. It is basically invisible. The last observation should be half a month ago. You can see that it is already a small point."

Xia Lan also came over:

"Chaowen, please read it first, and tell us if you need anything. We also have an observation mission tonight, and we will all be here."

Liu Chaowen rubbed the information in front of him with his hand and nodded:

"Okay, thank you, Sister Lan. You go ahead and do your work and I'll see for myself."

There was a slight "Woo" sound outside the observation room, and the observation port of the Near-Earth Object Telescope opened. The screen on the wall of the observation room also turned black, with a dot above it.

Decorated with some bright spots that you can’t tell what they are.

Liu Chaowen looked up at the screen, and Wei Xu next to him said:

"The picture on this screen is the display of the contents of the telescope's eyepiece. It is not focused yet so nothing can be seen.

Once you start to survey the sky, you can see the romantic sea of ​​stars in your imagination. However, looking at it for a long time is quite boring. I don’t have the awareness of Sister Lan, and I can see the same starry sky every time.

To bring up such high emotions.”

Xia Lan returned to her computer:

"Get ready to start today's sky survey and check the star areas observed yesterday and today's positions."

Wei Xu gently patted Liu Chaowen on the shoulder:

"You watch first, I'm going to work. If you need any help, just call me."

Liu Chaowen nodded and replied:

"Okay, senior brother, go and do your work."

After saying that, Liu Chaowen immersed himself in the three stacks of information in front of him and no longer cared about Xia Lan and the others' observations.

Time passed quietly as Liu Chaowen flipped through the information and wrote on the paper with his pen tip. He didn't know how long it had passed.

Wei Xu's yawn pulled him back from the pile of information.

"Ah... let's stop here tonight. It's my turn to be on duty today. You all should go back and rest early."

Wei Xu said while stretching.

Xia Lan walked to Liu Chaowen's desk, looked at the pile of paper in his hand filled with orbital graphics and calculation formulas, and asked curiously:

"How's it going, Chaowen, did you find anything?"

Liu Chaowen placed a piece of paper with orbital lines in front of him:

"Sister Lan, look, this is the perihelion observation data in July. This is the observation data in September. According to calculations, the calculated value of Oumuamua's orbital data after orbiting the sun deviates from the observed value by more than 60,000 kilometers. The speed is from 28

km/s increased to 40 km/s.”

Xia Lan looked at the piece of paper Liu Chaowen put in front of him and marveled at his calculation ability. The calculation formulas and calculation methods next to the orbit sketch described exactly what he had just dictated in mathematical form. This is very important for a professional in theoretical physics.

It is not easy for people.

Lin Tianyu said calmly while packing up the information on the table:

"Yes, this is because after the comet reaches perihelion, it will be affected by solar radiation and evaporate a lot of ice on the comet's body. The mass will be reduced, and the speed and orbit will change. The gravitational slingshot effect of the sun causes the comet to accelerate and change.

The orbits are all normal. Based on this observation accuracy and spatial scale, the orbit deviation of about 60,000 kilometers is basically within a reasonable range."

Xia Lan seemed to hear a hint of disdain in Lin Tianyu's unhurried words. Just as he was about to say something, Liu Chaowen picked up another sketch with the same trajectory, which was also filled with dense calculation data.

of paper:

"Then based on these observational data and considering factors such as the discrete mass of the star's steel body, the impact of jets produced by melting ice on the orbit, etc., I calculated that the orbital position of Oumuamua should be here now, Sister Lan

See if it’s right.”

Xia Lan took the paper handed over by Liu Chaowen and looked at the markings on the track sketch and the precise calculation data. The curiosity on her face turned into surprise.