VOA慢速英語：未知黑洞增添新信息

New Information Adds to Understanding of Black Holes

未知黑洞增添新信息

The human eye is unable to see black holes in space. But telescopes with special tools can help find black holes by seeing how they affect nearby stars.

人類的肉眼是不能夠看見太空中的黑洞的。但是，帶有特殊工具的望遠鏡能夠幫助發(fā)現(xiàn)黑洞，并觀測他們是如何影響周圍行星的。

In February, the Japanese space agency sent its Astro-H satellite into orbit around the Earth. The satellite’s job was to examine large structures in space, like huge black holes that exist at the center of most galaxies.

今年二月份，日本宇航局發(fā)射Astro-H號衛(wèi)星進入地球附近軌道。該衛(wèi)星的工作是檢測太空中的大結構，例如存在于銀河中央的巨大黑洞。

Galaxies are large groups of stars. Scientists estimate there are between 100 and 200 billion galaxies in the universe.

銀河是由龐大的星系組成的?？茖W家估計大概有一千億到二千億銀河存在于宇宙中。

The Astro-H satellite fell apart after only a month in space. But in that short time, Astro-H was able to gather important information. It sent back data about the Perseus cluster – a grouping of galaxies in the star constellation Perseus. The Perseus cluster is home to hundreds of galaxies. They are 240 million light years from Earth.

Astro-H衛(wèi)星僅僅用了一個月就在太空中分離了。但是，在這短時間里，Astro-H能夠收集重要的信息。它發(fā)射回關于英仙座星團的數(shù)據---一組英仙座的星團。英仙座是成百星系的家。他們距離地球2400萬光年。

What are black holes?

什么是黑洞？

Black holes are areas where the pull of gravity is so strong that not even light can escape. Usually they happen after very big, supergiant stars explode. The exploded star turns into something called a “supernova.” It is very bright, but short-lived. Supernovas create the largest explosions in space.

黑洞是一塊因重力太強烈以至于光不能夠逃脫出來的區(qū)域。通常發(fā)生在非常巨大的超大星爆炸之后。該爆炸的行星變成某種東西，我們稱作“超新星”。它非常的明亮，但是存活期短。超新星在太空中產生巨大的爆炸。

The material remaining after the supernova explosion collapses. Gravity pulls, or crushes, all the matter into a very small space. When light can no longer escape that space, it is known as a black hole.

該物質存在于超新星爆炸后的殘骸中。重力拉伸或者是擠壓，所有的物質擠進一個非常小的空間里。光再也不能從空間里逃脫出來，這就是黑洞。

The Japanese satellite Astro-H was carrying an instrument called an X-ray spectrometer. It was able to measure the way gas flows at the center of the Perseus cluster.

日本Astro-H衛(wèi)星攜帶一種叫做X射線 分光儀工具。它能夠測量在英仙座周圍的大氣是如何流動的。

What it found was that the superheated gas at the center of the cluster flowed more calmly than researchers expected. And that told them something about how black holes work, and how galaxies are formed.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)在英仙座周圍過熱的大氣平靜的流動，比研究人員預測的平靜。并且它告知黑洞是如何工作的，星系是如何形成的。

Brian McNamara is an astrophysicist with the University of Waterloo in Canada.

布萊恩·麥克納馬拉是加拿大滑鐵盧大學的天體物理學家。

"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."

“并且它給了我們一個非常精確的測量，吸入該大氣特大質量的黑洞需要多少能量，并且它允許我們去形成更多的完整的行星是如何發(fā)展的相關影像，行星和大氣最終是如何在宇宙時間里冷卻成為流星雨”

The scientists are also looking at the hot plasma — another kind of matter — and gases that surround galaxies.

科學家也能夠觀測熱的等離子體---另一種物質---銀河系周圍的氣體。

"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."

這種氣體不能夠冷卻和像雨一樣在我們的大氣中濃縮成行星，星球，生命。未來，是很有潛能的，并且我們試著去理解該星系的命運和許多其他行星將成為什么。

McNamara says that supermassive black holes may change how galaxies form and change over time.

麥克納馬拉說：“特大質量的黑洞或許改變星系在這段時間里的形成和改變”

“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.”

“能量緊密結合大氣通過巨大的黑洞釋放，也是未來星星形成的材料”

And what that means, he says, is that these huge black holes can affect the rate at which a galaxy grows.

這意味著什么呢？他說，巨大的黑洞能夠影響星系成長的速度。

I’m Anne Ball.

安妮 波爾報道。