(单词翻译:单击)
Black holes are invisible to the human eye. But telescopes with special tools can help find them by revealing how they affect nearby stars.
虽然黑洞是人类肉眼所看不见的,但是带有专用工具的望远镜可以通过展现黑洞对附近恒星的影响,从而帮助人们找到黑洞。
In February, Japan's space agency rocketed its Astro-H satellite into orbit to examine large-scale structures in the cosmos, like supermassive black holes that exist at the center of most galaxies.
二月份,日本航天局将他们的Astro-H卫星发射到了轨道上,用来检测宇宙中的大尺度结构,比如存在于大多数星系中心的特大质量黑洞。
Unfortunately, after only about a month in space, the satellite fell apart. But before it went out of commission, it was able to gather vital data about the Perseus cluster, consisting of hundreds of galaxies 240 million light years from earth.
不幸的是,这枚卫星在进入太空后仅仅一个月便解体了。但在它无法工作之前,这枚卫星还是收集到了关于距离地球2.4亿光年、由数百个星系组成的英仙座星系团的重要数据。
On board Astro-H was a unique X-ray spectrometer, which showed that superheated gas at the cluster's heart flows much more calmly than expected.
Astro-H原本搭载有一台独特的X射线能谱仪,这台能谱仪曾显示,在星团中心位置的炽热气体流动得比期望中的要平静得多。
"And that gives us a very precise measurement of how much energy is being pumped into this gas by supermassive black holes, and so it allows us to form a more complete picture of how galaxies evolve, how the stars and the gas that will eventually cool out like rain to form the stars, evolves over cosmic time,"
"并且在关于有多少能量被特大质量黑洞灌进这些气体的问题上,它给我们提供了非常精确的测量。这也能够让我们对星系、恒星、和最终会像雨水一样冷却并形成恒星的气体会如何随着宇宙时间而演化,形成更为完整的画面,"
Researchers are also closely looking at the hot plasma--a type of matter--and gases that surround the galaxies.
研究者们也在仔细研究这些热等离子体(一种物质)和围绕在星系周围的气体。
"This is gas that has not cooled out and condensed out like rain in our atmosphere to form stars, planets, life, for example. So it's the potential for the future, and we're trying to understand what the future destiny of this galaxy and many other galaxies would be,"
"这种气体还没有像我们大气中的雨水一样冷却凝结,从而形成——举个例子来说——恒星、行星和生命。所以这就是未来的潜力所在,并且我们正在尝试弄清楚这个星系和许多其他星系的未来命运会如何。"
Supermassive black holes may manipulate how galaxies form and evolve.
特大质量黑洞能够操纵星系的形成和演化。
"The energy released by these giant black holes is very tightly coupled to these atmospheres, which is the stuff out of which future stars will form,"
"这些巨大的黑洞所释放出的能量会和那些大气紧密偶合,产生未来形成恒星所需的物质。"
And this means the invisible giant at their heart influences the rate at which a galaxy grows.
这就意味着位于星系中心的无形巨人影响着这个星系成长的速度。