Annihilation of the solar system

The observation room was eerily quiet. Everyone stood there, staring at the enlarged pixels on the screen, imagining what Oumuamua looked like.

Liu Chaowen's calm words broke the silence in the observation room:

"Can you measure its speed?"

Wei Xu sat in front of the computer:

"I'll try, but this distance is probably too far for our telescope."

After a "cracking" sound of typing on the keyboard, Wei Xu shook his head and sighed:

"Hey... no! It's too far away, and the imaging resolution is too low, so the system software can't identify it. But I used his orbital position half a month ago as a reference and assumed a transfer orbit for him. Then, I made a rough calculation

As a result, his current speed should be around 60km/s."

Xia Lan stared at the big screen, thoughtfully:

"Then try taking a few more photos and analyze its light cycle."

"Okay." Wei Xu replied.

After that, I started working on the computer for a while. After more than ten minutes, a 9-square grid appeared on the screen. Each grid was an enlarged picture of a comet, which was still just a bunch of pixels. In each grid

There is an additional function image and some data in the lower right corner of the grid.

"This is a photo I just took of it every 90 seconds. Data analysis shows that its apparent magnitude is almost exactly the same, which means that it has almost no light variation period."

Yang Fan looked at the nine-square grid with a surprised look on his face:

"I remember that when it was at perigee, the rotation period of its long axis was one hour. In other words..." Yang Fan felt that his idea was too outrageous and did not continue. But everyone had that doubt.

Finally, Xia Lan expressed everyone’s thoughts:

"That is to say, it not only changed its orbit, but also stopped rotating. This is difficult to explain by gravity, rigid body separation and steam jets."

Lin Tianyu, who had been silent at the door, put forward different opinions:

"However, we first need to be able to confirm that the observed object is 'Oumuamua."

He glanced at the huge telescope outside the window:

"The resolution of our telescope can only lead to a conclusion that it is suspected of 'Oumuamua. The current observation data may not be very convincing."

No one spoke. Although Lin Tianyu's questions were still somewhat aimed at Liu Chaowen, what he said was also true.

"Well, then our only way is to use a telescope with greater resolution and more powerful capabilities to confirm." Liu Mengzhu said.

Wei Xu stood up from his seat and turned his attention to Xia Lan:

"Observations in the visible light band at this distance and scale are already difficult to achieve on Earth unless..."

"Unless what?" Liu Chaowen asked curiously.

At this time, everyone's eyes fell on Xia Lan. Xia Lan also understood what they were going to say. She took a deep breath and looked away from the big screen:

"Unless the space telescope 'Yang Jian' in geosynchronous orbit is used."

"Can we use that space telescope?" Liu Chaowen asked again.

Lin Tianyu picked up a bottle of mineral water and unscrewed the cap, still unhurried and unhurried, with a somewhat arrogant tone in his words:

"Theoretically, it's possible. But we need to apply first, and after getting approval from the project supervisor, prepare the materials and plans and submit them to the National Academy of Sciences. After the experts have passed the argument, we will then report to the National Space Administration for planning. We will wait for the plans to be concentrated in this area.

Once there are enough observation plans, observations can be made.”

A smile just appeared on Liu Chaowen's face, but Wu Fan's words made his smile disappear again:

"If everything goes well, this process will take at least three months. And I think our biggest problem is that with the things we have now, it may be difficult to even get the teacher's approval."

Wei Xu picked up the piece of paper Liu Chaowen used to calculate the orbit and shook his head slightly:

"The most terrible thing is that when it was our turn to implement our observation plan, it had already run out of the observation range. I just checked and found that the area of ​​the sky that the Yang Jian was aiming at in its latest shooting was exactly the area we wanted to observe.

In the opposite direction... it would cost millions to rotate that big thing on a synchronous orbit."

Everyone's eyes fell on Xia Lan again. Xia Lan sighed softly and sat down at the desk, her eyes blankly in a daze.

The observation room fell into dead silence again, only the "buzzing" sound of the computer cooling fan was left. Everyone seemed to understand in their hearts, but they didn't say it out loud. Only Liu Chaowen scratched his head and looked at everyone's strange state.

Suddenly Xia Lan's cell phone rang, and the ringtone echoed in the observation room, pulling Xia Lan out of the whirlpool of her thoughts.

She took a closer look and saw her instructor Shen Manling clearly displayed on the screen. She looked at the time again and saw that it was already 11 o'clock. The instructor's call so late must have something important to do.

She picked up the phone and hurried out of the observation room. The atmosphere in the observation room immediately relaxed the moment Xia Lan closed the door. Liu Chaowen was a little confused:

"Sister Lan, can she help me use the space telescope?"

Lin Tianyu continued to drink water as if nothing had happened and said nothing. Wu Fan and Liu Mengzhu looked at each other and said nothing for a while. Wei Xu glanced at everyone, walked to Liu Chaowen, and said in a mysterious manner:

"Junior brother, don't you know? Xia Jigang, the vice president of our National Academy of Sciences and the general advisor of aerospace science and technology of the State Council, is the father of our team leader Xia Lan."

Liu Chaowen was a little surprised at first, then showed a hint of joy on his face, and was about to speak. Lin Tianyu on the side put down the mineral water bottle and said coldly:

"Don't place too much hope on Xia Lan regarding the space telescope. It's unlikely."

"Why?" Liu Chaowen looked confused.

Liu Mengzhu said in her usual soft and gentle voice:

"She seems to have a bad relationship with her father."

After walking out of the observation room, Xia Lan walked to the railing while answering the phone:

"Hello, Teacher Shen!"

"Xia Lan, have you rested?" The voice of instructor Shen Manling came from the receiver, and her tone was different from her usual gentle tone.

"No, Teacher Shen. I just completed today's sky survey and observation mission, and I'm still in the observation room."

Shen Manying gave a high-spirited sermon:

"My friend at the National Space Administration called me just now and said that the Venus upper atmosphere life detection program you initiated and led two years ago has produced preliminary results."

Xia Lan's heart tightened, her heartbeat accelerated several beats, and she was about to burst out with excitement.

"Did you find something?"

Shen Manling was also a little excited and spoke faster:

"Last Wednesday, the data, videos and other information returned by the Venus upper atmosphere detector. After preliminary verification by experts from the space center, it has been basically confirmed that the section predicted in your project plan is the upper atmosphere about 68 kilometers from the surface of Venus.

Here, possible evidence of life was found!”

Xia Lan could almost imagine the excited expression of her mentor Shen Manling through the voice on the microphone.

"Really? Oh my god!....I can't imagine...!"

After hearing the teacher's words, her volume increased unconsciously and her voice became a little trembling. Her emotions were like throwing a mint into a cup full of Coke! Every pore in her body was gushing with excitement. the breath.

Compared to Xia Lan's somewhat hysterical tone, Shen Manling's voice on the other end of the phone seemed much calmer:

"My friend from the space agency told me that he will notify you to return to Beijing early tomorrow morning to attend the final expert demonstration meeting. But it is still theoretically in the confidentiality stage, so he cannot give me the data and video materials, but I have already asked him I’ve asked about it.”

There was a bit of mystery in Shen Manling's voice:

"When the probe was gliding in the upper atmosphere of Venus, the sensor detected hydrogen sulfide molecules with a concentration that was more than three thousand times higher than the predicted value! And the uniform distribution at that altitude is widespread."

Listening to Shen Manling's description, Xia Lan felt as if she was already in the atmosphere of Venus filled with orange soft light. She shouted excitedly:

"Hydrogen sulfide! More than three thousand times! That's almost impossible to occur naturally!"

Shen Manying could understand the student's mood because she knew that Xia Lan had paid a lot for this project. After Xia Lan's mood calmed down a lot, she continued:

"Yes, the current preliminary conclusion is that the hydrogen sulfide molecules at that concentration are almost exclusively the products of biological metabolism. Some vague evidence was also found in the video data of the detector. The video data is not very clear. If combined with the data returned by Guang'an, the dark shadows captured may not be dark clouds."

Listening to the instructor's vivid narration, Xia Lan's eyes were filled with stars in the night sky, and her mind had begun to draw the imaginary appearance of Venusian creatures. They might be floating like airships in the boundless sea of ​​orange clouds, or they might be like jellyfish floating in the sea. .......

"Xia Lan! Xia Lan?....Are you still listening?" Shen Manling's anxious voice came from the phone.

Xia Lan woke up from her fantasy and replied hesitantly:

"I'm sorry...Teacher Shen...I'm listening...I'm just...just too excited...!"

Shen Manying can certainly understand the students' mood:

"You are the initiator and participant of this historic discovery, so of course you should be excited."

Xia Lan almost cried with joy:

"This is still the strong support from you, teacher. Otherwise, this project may not pass the theoretical argument."

Shen Manying said leisurely:

"The main thing is to rely on your solid academic skills and creative thinking. I just did what a tutor should do. But..."

At this point, Shen Manling paused and continued:

"It's your father. Although Academician Xia was opposed to it at first. But in the end, without his approval, it would be difficult for this project to be implemented, and there would be no great discovery today."

When Xia Lan heard her father's name, her mood suddenly cooled down. For a few seconds, neither person on the other end of the phone spoke.

In the end, Shen Manling spoke first:

"Um... let's not talk about this. Don't tell other students in the research group about this matter. After all, it is still in the theoretical confidentiality stage. By the way, where is Chaowen, is he okay?"

Hearing the teacher mention Liu Chaowen's name, Xia Lan suddenly realized. After recovering from the excitement of discovering extraterrestrial life, she thought of what happened in the observation room just now, and she cleared her throat:

"You mentioned Chaowen, I really have something important to report to you!"