包含数以亿计恒星的星系团即将发生碰撞

It might be the biggest bang since the Big Bang.

这可能是自宇宙大爆炸以来最大的一次爆炸。

Astronomers have, for the first time, spotted two galactic clusters about to smash into one another.

天文学家首次观测到两个星系团即将相撞。

When it happens, they'll create a "hot belt" of gas 100 million degrees - more than 18,000 times hotter than the sun.

星系团碰撞时，将产生一个1亿度的热量，比太阳高出18000倍。

"X-ray and radio images of these clusters show the first clear evidence for this type of merger shock," said Liyi Gu of the Japanese research institute Riken.

日本理研所(Riken)的顾立义表示：“这些星系团的x射线和射电图像首次清晰地证明了这种融合碰撞的存在。。”

Galaxy clusters are huge - each consisting of hundreds of galaxies and hundreds of billions of stars.

星系团是巨大的——每个星系团都由数百个星系和数千亿颗恒星组成。

"As the collision takes more than a lifetime, catching the moment they first touch has proved elusive," the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research said in a statement.

国际射电天文学研究中心在一份声明中说：“由于这次碰撞需要超过一生的时间，人们很难捕捉到它们第一次碰撞的瞬间。”

"It is like finding a raindrop that just touches the water surface in a photograph of a pond during a rain shower."

“这就像在一场阵雨中，要拍到第一滴雨接触水面的瞬间。”

The two clusters about to collide are known as 1E 2216.0- 0401 and 1E 2215.7-0404.

这两个即将碰撞的星系团分别是1E 2216.0- 0401和1E 2215.7-0404。

The astronomers hope the merger helps them learn more about how the universe evolves on an intergalactic scale.

天文学家希望这次碰撞融合，能帮助他们更多地了解宇宙是如何在星系间演化的。

The research was published in journal Nature Astronomy on Tuesday morning.

这项研究发表在周二上午的《自然天文学》杂志上。