宇宙里有非常巨大的东西 The universe is home to real monsters.
虽然看不到, 但我们知道它们存在 We can't see them, but we know they're out there.
黑洞是最大, 最强, 最恐怖的物体 You really can't get anything bigger or stronger or scarier than a black hole.
黑洞会吞噬任何靠近它的物体 Black holes consume planets and stars,
包括行星和恒星 anything that gets too close.
黑洞令物理学家头痛不已 Black holes give physicists no end of headaches,
因为它们打破所有规律 because they break all the rules.
但它们主宰宇宙的一切 But they rule the universe.
他们才是中心舞台 They are centre stage.
我们现在知道黑洞主导宇宙的进化 We now know they dominate the evolution of the universe itself.
宇宙有道理 How the Universe Works
黑洞 Black Holes
黑洞是宇宙中最神秘的物体 Black holes are the most mysterious objects in our universe.
它们的引力是无法抗拒的 Their gravity is absolute.
任何物体都无法逃脱 Nothing can escape.
它们可以吞噬整个星系 They can suck in whole galaxies.
黑洞曾是科幻小说的情节 Black holes used to be science fiction.
但现在我们知道它们确实存在 Now we know they're real.
当我还是博士生的时候 When I was a PhD student,
人们听到关于黑洞的言论会偷笑 people used to giggle when you hear about black holes.
它们像独角兽或神话的怪兽 "They're like unicorns, mythical creatures."
我们把黑洞当做笑料 We called this the giggle factor.
人们会说: 把我传送上去, 史葛 People would say, "Beam me up, Scotty."
现在没人再把这当笑话了 Well, no one is laughing anymore.
它们不再是科幻小说的情节 So they're not science fiction.
即使我们从未遇到过黑洞 Even though we've never landed on one,
但有证据证明它们真实存在 we have enough evidence to know that they're really out there.
这影像对你我而言似乎意义不大 This image might not look like much to you and me,
但科学家认为是黑洞存在的明证 but to a scientist its proof that black holes exist.
它记录了黑洞吞噬天鹰座… It's an actual movie of a black hole
某个恒星的情景 devouring a star in the constellation of Aquila.
黑洞喜欢狼吞虎咽 Black holes are messy eaters.
你们见到的红点 The red spots you see are gas
就是黑洞吐出来的气体 that's being spit out of the hole into space.
一百万年后这颗恒星会被完全吞噬 Eventually, over the next million years, this star will be eaten alive and disappear.
黑洞是万物的终点 A black hole is pretty much... the endpoint of everything.
恒星的终点, 物质的终点 It's the endpoint of a star, it's the endpoint of matter,
能量的终点, 引力的终点 it's the endpoint of energy, it's the endpoint of gravity.
它们是至高无上 I mean, that's really it. That's the top of the scale.
虽然黑洞有无穷的破坏力 Although they have the power to destroy like nothing else in the universe,
但它们也促进了星系的形成 black holes also help build galaxies.
它们是宇宙中不可或缺部分 A vital part of the great cosmic machine,
一些天文学家认为它们甚至可能是 some astronomers think they could
通往平行宇宙的门户 even be gateways to parallel universes.
我们正进入黑洞物理研究黄金时代 We are now entering the golden age of research in black hole physics.
黑洞可能成为了解宇宙诞生… They could be the key to understanding the birth of the universe,
形成和衰亡的关键 its formation, and then its death.
黑洞可以说代表现代天文学的前沿 Black holes really represent, in one sense, the frontier of modern astronomy.
它们正在改变我们对星系如何形成 They're changing our ideas about how galaxies form
和宇宙如何运作的认识 and indeed how the universe works.
黑洞的力量来自最原始的力量之一 Their power comes from one of the primary forces in nature:
引力 gravity.
我教的是天文学 I teach astronomy
我们教学生引力最基本的原理就是 and we teach our students that the fundamental principle of gravity is:
它会吸引 "gravity sucks."
引力使我们能够站在地面上 Gravity keeps our feet on the ground
使行星绕着太阳运行 and our planet orbiting around the sun.
但黑洞的引力强大无比 But in a black hole, the force of gravity is off the charts,
能够吸入周围一切物质 so strong it sucks in anything nearby.
它甚至能使遥远恒星的光线弯曲 It can even bend the light from distant stars.
若光线靠得太近将会被黑洞吞噬 And if that light gets too close, the black hole swallows it.
打一个比喻来解释 Think of it like this:
把黑洞想象成瀑布 Imagine a black hole as a waterfall.
引力就是流向瀑布的河流 Gravity is the river flowing toward the falls,
光线是一个皮筏 and a beam of light, the kayak.
在河流上游, 水流较缓 Upriver from the waterfall, the current is weak.
皮筏可以轻易逆流而上 The kayaker can paddle against it and get away.
但在接近瀑布地方水流变得湍急 But closer to the waterfall, the current is stronger
皮筏要想逃脱必须奋力挣扎 and the kayaker struggles to escape.
瀑布顶端就像黑洞边缘 The edge of the waterfall is like the edge of a black hole.
无论皮筏如何挣扎都只能冲下去 No matter how strong the kayaker is, he's going down.
在太空也是这个道理 It's the same in space.
黑洞具有毁灭性力量是因为… The way black holes are really devastating is because when you get close to them,
当你靠近它们时引力会变得巨大 the gravity gets super strong.
强大到可以吞噬光线 So strong that they eat light.
这就是黑洞漆黑一片的原因 That's why black holes are black.
黑洞就像蟑螂屋 A black hole is like a roach motel
有进无出 everything checks in, nothing checks out.
靠得太近的物质都注定要灭亡 Anything that gets too close is doomed:
包括行星, 恒星, 甚至整个太阳系 planets, stars, even whole solar systems.
不要以为黑洞遥不可及 And don't think this is some far away phenomenon.
其实它就在我们附近 Black holes are on the loose right here in our own cosmic neighbourhood.
我们知道它们在银河系中游荡 We now know they are wandering nomads throughout the Milky Way galaxy,
在星系到处流浪 vagabonds throughout the galaxy
黑洞可能突然出现在你身后 where black holes can come up right behind you
将你吞噬后连饱嗝都不打一个 and perhaps gobble you up; and they won't even burp.
若有黑洞靠近你, 当心 If one ever comes close, watch out.
若一个黑洞进入我们太阳系 If a black hole found its way into our solar system,
它会把我们撕成碎片 it would rip us apart.
任何能够穿过太阳系的黑洞 Any kind of black hole that could pass through the solar system
都会以比太阳更大的引力吸引行星 would be pulling on all the planets harder than the sun does,
因此会完全摧毁太阳系的引力平衡 and so it's just gonna totally disrupt the gravitational balance of the solar system.
黑洞会将行星从各自的轨道上拉开 The black hole would literally tear planets from their orbits
令行星互相碰撞 and smash them into each other.
这是大灾难, 像公牛闯进瓷器店 It's just an epic disaster.It's a bull in a China shop.
若它们离开行星够近, 譬如木星 If it got close enough to say, Jupiter,
黑洞会将木星所有卫星扯离木星 it could actually pull the moons of Jupiter away from the planet itself.
当黑洞穿越太阳系时会把行星猛抛 It would just be flinging planets left and right everywhere
所经之处一片狼藉 as it whipped through the solar system, leaving disaster in its wake.
若黑洞接近地球 If a black hole approached Earth,
它的引力会把小行星扯离轨道 all that gravity would rip asteroids from their orbits
向我们地球投掷过来 and hurl them toward our planet.
地球表面将会变成地狱 The Earth's surface would become an inferno.
末日随之降临 It would be the beginning of the end.
首先黑洞吞噬大气, 接着吞噬地球 First, it would swallow up the atmosphere, then the planet itself.
摧毁整个太阳系对黑洞来说是小事 Destroying an entire solar system is nothing to a black hole,
它不仅是个拼命吞噬的空间 but it's more than just a big empty sucking piece of space.
它的重量亦大得惊人 It's incredibly heavy.
要想知道黑洞有多重和密度多大 To get an idea just how heavy and dense a black hole is,
以地球为例 imagine the Earth.
现在开始把它压缩 Now, start to crush it.
不断压缩, 以至越来越紧 And keep crushing until it's packed so tight,
直至原子也被压碎 even the atoms themselves collapse.
当地球被挤压成为直径两寸的球体 When the Earth crushes down to just two inches across,
它的密度就与黑洞相同 that's the density of a black hole.
虽然变成了高尔夫球那么小 It would be the size of a golf ball,
但地球的重量和引力都不变 yet weigh the same as the Earth with the same amount of gravity.
物质是怎样能够变得这么小… What can make something that small
密度这样大和这么强大呢? that dense and that powerful?
我们没有外力 We don't have external forces, large pistons in the universe,
没有制造黑洞的巨型活塞 to create black holes.
因此黑洞在宇宙中形成的唯一方式 So the only way the real black holes in the universe form
就是引力自身的力量 is if gravity could do the job itself.
宇宙中只有一个地方 There is only one place in the universe
能够产生如此强大的引力 that generates that much gravity
就是巨型恒星内部 and it's inside the largest stars.
当10倍于太阳重量的庞大恒星死亡 When massive stars, 10 times heavier than our sun die,
会在引力的挤压下发生剧烈爆炸 gravity crushes them creating a huge explosion:
形成超新星 a supernova.
但有些恒星甚至更大 But some stars are even bigger than that.
这些超巨星比太阳重100倍 These supermassive stars weigh 100 times more than our sun
引力亦大100倍 and have 100 times more gravity.
当超巨星死亡时 When one of these stars dies,
会引发宇宙中最剧烈爆炸 it sets off the biggest explosion in the universe:
形成了特超新星 a hypernova.
黑洞就是这样诞生的 This is the birth of a black hole.
我们的宇宙恒星密布 Our universe is full of stars.
当恒星死亡时, 有些静悄悄 At the end of their lives, some die quietly.
有些则会引发剧烈爆炸 Others go out in spectacular explosions,
有些甚至形成黑洞 and some give birth to black holes.
当一颗质量是太阳100倍的超巨星 If you have a star, a supermassive star that's a hundred times the mass of the sun
死亡时 at the end of its life,
内核的燃料已经枯竭 the core runs out of fuel,
无法维持燃烧 there's nothing left to hold it up,
内核就会塌陷形成一个黑洞 and the core collapses down into a black hole.
超巨星核心产生的巨大引力 When that happens,
将会肆无忌惮 the enormous gravity generated at the heart of supermassive stars runs wild.
这是即将消亡的大犬座VY超巨星 This is the dying star VY Canis Majoris.
直径超过10亿哩 It's more than a billion miles across.
像个向外喷发能量的核聚变反应堆 Like all stars, it's a giant nuclear fusion reactor pumping energy outward.
同时它的强大引力向内挤压 At the same time, the star's extreme gravity crushes inward.
核聚变和引力互相制衡达几百万年 For a few million years, fusion and gravity are locked in stand-off.
当恒星的燃料耗尽时 But when the star runs out of fuel,
核聚变停止, 僵局结束 fusion stops and the stalemate ends.
引力取得胜利 Gravity wins.
一毫秒后恒星的内核 In a millisecond, the core shrinks
压缩至原体积的一小部分 to a fraction of its original size
一个婴儿黑洞诞生了 and a baby black hole is born.
它立刻开始吞噬恒星剩余部分 Immediately, it starts to cannibalise what's left of the star.
随着物质不断卷入黑洞 As matter swirls into the black hole,
这里变得异常炙热 it gets incredibly hot
于是产生了磁力和摩擦力 and there are magnetic forces and frictional forces
黑洞表面发生的一切 and it's just a witch's brew, a nightmare,
就像噩梦一样 what's going on right above the surface of the black hole.
中间的新生黑洞不断吞噬恒星 The new black hole in the middle keeps feeding on the body of the star around it.
它的吞食速度太快 It eats the gas so fast
会噎住和咳, 喷出巨大能量 it chokes and coughs blasting out huge beams of energy.
黑洞实际上是由内而外地吞噬恒星 They basically eat their way out from the star.
这一切的发生只用了几毫秒 This happens in milliseconds.
其余部分还未知道内核已被吞噬 It happens before the rest of the star even knows the core is gone,
所以恒星的死是从内而外的 and so basically, the star is dead before it hits the ground.
最后, 恒星爆炸 Finally, the star explodes.
一秒钟之内恒星爆炸产生的能量 In one second, it blasts out a hundred times more energy
比太阳产生的所有能量还多100倍 than our sun will produce over its entire life.
爆炸后只剩下一个新生黑洞 What's left is a new black hole and two jets of energy
和两道以光速穿过宇宙的能量束 hurtling through the universe at the speed of light.
这就是伽马射线暴 These jets are called gamma ray bursts.
它们的能量高得惊人 They're incredibly energetic events.
在原能量和力量方面 In terms of raw energy and power,
伽马射线暴仅次于宇宙大爆炸 gamma ray bursts are second only to the big bang itself.
大多数只持续几秒钟 Most of them last only a few seconds,
但它会摧毁途经的一切 and they fry anything in their way.
它们非常强烈 They're so intense
若伽马射线暴存在于… that if there was a gamma ray burster
银河系的太阳系附近 in the region of our galaxy near our solar system,
它会使整个地球蒸发 it could literally vaporise the entire planet.
幸运的是大多数伽马射线暴 Fortunately, most gamma ray bursts
都发生在银河系以外 occur outside our galaxy.
但它们亦为我们揭示出 But they tell us something important about black holes
有关黑洞和宇宙的奥秘 and how our universe works.
我们每次看到的伽马射线暴 What we were seeing, every time a gamma ray burst went off,
都是黑洞诞生的第一声啼哭 was basically the birth-cry of a black hole.
天文学家通过计算伽马射线暴次数 By counting gamma ray bursts,
推算出黑洞的数量 astronomers can figure out how many black holes are being created.
2004年太空总署发射了雨燕探测器 In 2004, NASA launched the Swift Probe
用于寻找宇宙中的伽马射线暴 to scan the universe for gamma ray bursts.
5,4,3,2,1 Five, four, three, two, one.
火箭点火, 我们将雨燕送入太空 We have ignition and we have liftoff of NASA's Swift spacecraft
开始研究和了解宇宙的伽马射线暴 on a mission to study and understand gamma ray bursts throughout the universe.
这是至今雨燕发现最强伽马射线暴 This is the most powerful gamma ray burst Swift has detected so far.
耀眼闪光预示宇宙另一端 The flash of light announces the birth of a new black hole
一个黑洞的诞生 on the other side of the universe.
雨燕对那里的情况也只是以管窥天 Swift can only look at a fraction of what's out there.
但每天至少探测到一次伽马射线暴 Still, it detects, at least, one gamma ray burst every day.
这一发现动摇了天文学的基础 That discovery rocked astronomy to its foundations.
我们一度认为黑洞就像独角兽 We once thought that black holes, like unicorns,
是永远无法找到的 could never be found.
我们相信夜空中可能有数十亿个黑洞 We now believe that there are perhaps billions of black holes in the night sky.
当我们环顾银河系和其它星系 When we look around our galaxy and other galaxies,
可以确定的是强大黑洞遍布宇宙 it's clear that the universe is full of powerful black holes.
找到黑洞是一回事 Finding black holes is one thing.
弄清它们如何运作是另一回事 Figuring out how they work, that's a whole different ballgame.
所谓不入虎穴, 焉得虎子 The only way to find out is to visit one.
你要搭宇宙飞船穿越浩瀚的太空 You'd have to take a spacecraft to cross the vastness of space
才能靠近黑洞 just to get close to it.
然后要进入黑洞 Then, you'd have to go inside the black hole.
在那里, 现实世界彻底粉碎 There, you'd find a place where reality breaks down
时间停顿 and time stands still.
宇宙中存在着数十亿个黑洞 There are billions of black holes in the universe.
可以用望远镜和卫星探测到它们 We can detect them with telescopes and satellites,
但我们并不知道它们的具体模样 but we don't actually know what they're like up close.
虽然遥不可及 It's a long way off,
但科学家已思索探索黑洞的计划 but scientists are already speculating about a mission to a black hole,
是深入宇宙最危险区域的单程旅行 a one-way trip to the most dangerous place in the universe.
起初黑洞在物理学界引起一片哗然 Originally, physicists were horrified at the idea of black holes.
他们企图否认黑洞的存在 They wanted to banish them
因为黑洞似乎打破了… because the laws of physics as we know them seem to break down
所有物理定律 at the instant of a black hole.
时间停止了 Time stops,
引力变得无限大 gravity becomes infinite.
这真是个噩梦 This is a nightmare.
人类显然绝不可能靠近黑洞 Obviously, we can't send humans anywhere near a black hole.
但机械人呢? 当然可以 But a robot? Well. sure.
机械人探测器可以在即将越过… A robotic probe could transmit data back
黑洞边缘时传回数据 just before it goes over the edge.
黑洞的这个边缘叫做事件穹界 That edge of a black hole is called the event horizon.
至少在已知宇宙中它是时空的边缘 It's the edge of time and space, at least in the universe we know.
我们称之为事件穹界 We call the event horizon an event horizon
只是因为它将空间一分为二 quite simply because it separates space into two regions.
它不是一个物理表面 It's not a physical surface.
当你穿过它时, 可能完全不察觉 You might not even notice it if you were falling through it.
但一旦进去就万劫不复 But ultimately, once you're inside of it, you're doomed.
当你接近事件穹界 As you approach the event horizon,
引力增强和奇异情形也开始显现 gravity gets stronger and very strange things start to happen.
若你脚先入黑洞, 脚离黑洞较近 As you fall into a black hole feet first, your feet are closer to the black hole
所以感受到的引力更强 and so the gravity they feel is stronger.
你的头部离得较远 Your head is not quite as close,
所以感受到的引力较小 and so the gravity it feels is less.
所以你会被拉长 And basically, what happens is you get stretched out,
双脚受到的牵引远大于头部 your feet are being pulled much harder than your head
就像被两个壮汉拉伸的拖肥糖 and you're like a piece of taffy being pulled between two strong people.
越接近, 你就变得越细长 As you get thinner and thinner and thinner, as you get closer and closer and closer,
这个过程被称为意粉效应 you're undergoing a process we call spaghettification,
因为你变成了一根又细又长的面条 because you're basically turned into a long thin tube of pasta.
引力会将机械人探测器拉伸到极限 Gravity would stretch our robotic probe to the limit,
然后将其撕碎 then rip it apart.
但假如探测器够坚固, 能继续前行 But imagine if the probe was strong enough to survive and keep going.
一旦接近事件穹界, 一切会很离奇 As it gets close to the event horizon, everything goes crazy.
引力大到无穷以至时间停顿 Gravity is so extreme, it stops time.
我们认为时间永无止尽 We think of time as being endless.
但在黑洞中, 时间可以说停顿了 However, in a black hole, in some sense, time stops.
听来是无稽之谈, 但黑洞确实如此 This sounds like it's nuts, but that's the way it works.
数学上得出这个结论 it's in the math.
它其实是宇宙构造的一部分 It's actually woven into the fabric of the universe itself.
若你从远处遥望 If you were to watch from a distance,
探测器接近黑洞时似乎慢了下来 the robot probe would seem to slow down as it gets closer to the black hole.
然后好像完全停顿了 Then, it would appear to stop completely.
整个过程可能十分短暂 The whole process might just take a brief moment,
但从外面看, 似乎慢到几乎静止 but from the outside, you appear to freeze and fall ever more slowly.
你其实永远不可能看到… You actually can never observe an object
物体穿过事件穹界的全过程 fall all the way through the event horizon.
它在黑洞表面停顿了 It literally freezes at the surface
因为它的时钟和你的相比无限缓慢 because its clock is going infinitely slowly compared to yours.
事实上探测器没有停下来 In reality, the probe hasn't stopped at all.
它仍在前进和穿过事件穹界 It keeps going and crosses the event horizon.
若它将镜头向后转动朝向黑洞入口 If the probe points its cameras backwards, towards the entrance of the black hole,
会看到光线被吸进来 it will see light being sucked in.
若将镜头向前方, 起初只见到黑暗 If it points the camera forward, at first, it sees only black,
但随着它继续向黑洞核心前行 but as it moves toward the heart of the black hole,
会到达宇宙中最奇异地方 it encounters the most bizarre place in the universe.
黑洞的巨大引力将一切… The black hole's immense gravity pulls everything down
拉到位于中心的小点上 to an unimaginably small point at its centre
科学家称之为奇点 Scientists call it the singularity.
我们确实不知道黑洞中心发生甚么 We really just don't know what happens at the centre of a black hole.
密度非常高以至物理定律都被打破 The densities are so great that the laws of physics break down as we know them.
奇点的引力无穷大使时空失去意义 A singularity is a point of infinite gravity where space and time become meaningless.
这个说法很荒谬 Now, that is ridiculous.
奇点的意思其实是我不知道 A singularity is basically a word for saying, "I don't know,"
我毫无头绪 it's a word for saying, "I'm clueless."
直到现在科学家也无法回答 Even now, scientists can't really answer the question,
黑洞究竟是甚么 "What is a black hole?"
令人有些不安, 当知道宇宙中存在 It's upsetting a little bit to think that there are objects out there
违背物理定律的物体 that are breaking the laws of physics.
必然存在更高一级的定律 There must be bigger laws that are being used by these black holes,
适用于黑洞并为黑洞所遵循 that are being obeyed by these black holes,
只是我们还未知道 that we just don't understand yet.
唯一知道的是黑洞诞生于垂死恒星 Okay, so the one thing we do understand is that black holes are born from dying stars.
而大多数黑洞很小, 大约直径20哩 And most are small, around 20 miles across.
但现在科学家已发现有些黑洞很大 But now scientists have discovered that some black holes are much bigger.
它们叫做超大质量黑洞 They're called supermassive black holes.
它们与整个太阳系的大小相当 They're the same size as our entire solar system
其中一个就潜伏在银河系中心 and one of these monsters lies at the heart of our own galaxy.
太阳系位于银河系之中 Our solar system lies in the Milky Way galaxy.
它由数十亿恒星构成, 包括太阳 It's made up of billions of stars, including our sun,
全部绕着中心一个神秘区域旋转 all revolving around a mysterious region right at the centre.
儿童常常问 Children ask the question:
月球绕着地球转, 地球绕着太阳转 "If the moon goes around the Earth," "the Earth goes around the sun,"
那么太阳绕着甚么转? "then what does the sun go around?"
这问题很好 It's a good question,
天文学家也有同样疑问 and astronomers ask the same thing.
也许银河系中心有些东西 Maybe there was something going on at the heart of the Milky Way,
或者中心存在一个黑洞 perhaps a black hole at the very centre.
但黑洞无法观测 But because we can't actually see a black hole,
我们所能做的就是寻找蜘丝马迹 the best they could do was look for telltale signs.
用红外线望远镜观测银河系中心 Using infrared telescopes, they looked at the middle of the galaxy
发现一个高密度的恒星群 and discovered a densely packed swarm of millions of stars,
但无法看到恒星群中心 but they couldn't see what was at the centre.
一个科研团队已用了15年寻找线索 One team has spent 15 years looking for clues.
位于夏威夷莫纳克亚山 High above the clouds on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii,
就是巨型的凯克望远镜 the giant Keck telescope
能够观测到银河系中心 has the power to see right through to the centre of the Milky Way.
为证实黑洞的存在 The region which we have to study
我们必须研究的那个区域非常小 to prove that there's a black hole is incredibly small.
这无异于大海捞针 It is absolutely the case of looking for a needle in a haystack,
不同只是我们知道针的位置 except we know exactly where the needle is.
安德里亚·盖兹在寻找银河系黑洞的努力中 Andrea Ghez has spent countless nights scanning the centre of the galaxy
度过了无数不眠之夜 for signs of a black hole.
要做这个实验, 我们需要观测到… To be able to do this experiment, one has to be able to see the stars
接近银河系中心的恒星 that are very close tothe centre of the galaxy
并对它们进行精确定位 and to position them incredibly accurately,
这就好比我从洛杉矶 and this would be equivalent to me in Los Angeles
看着身处纽约的你 looking at you in New York
和看到你手指的微小动作 and seeing you be able to move your finger like this.
凯克望远镜一经启用 As the Keck kicks into action,
就探测到大气层中… a laser beam detects tiny disturbances in the atmosphere
使图像失真的微小扰动 that would distort the image.
直径30尺的镜面转动进行校正 Motors then adjust the huge 30-foot mirror to compensate.
图像极为清晰, 可以追踪到… The image is clear enough to track the stars
银河系中心的恒星 at the heart of our galaxy.
15年间盖茨拍摄了数千张照片 Ghez has taken thousands of images over the last 15 years.
这些照片揭示出一个惊人事实 And what they reveal is amazing.
银河系中心的恒星 The stars at the centre of the galaxy
以时速数百万英里高速移动 are moving at millions of miles an hour.
银河系中心是非常极端的环境 The centre of the galaxy is a very extreme environment
恒星移动的速度 The speeds with which stars move is much higher
比银河系任何地方都快很多 than anywhere else in our galaxy,
那绝对是黑洞的征兆 and that is absolutely the signpost of the black hole.
它们看起来像小行星 They look like tiny planets
绕着隐形太阳高速旋转 racing around an invisible sun.
但它们不是行星, 而是恒星 But they're not planets, they're stars.
必须有强大引力牵引这些巨星 It takes a lot of gravity to swing huge stars around
沿着靠近中心的轨道高速转动 in such fast, tight orbits.
宇宙只有一种物体有如此大牵引力 There's only one thing in the universe with that much pull:
就是超大质量黑洞 a supermassive black hole.
这些恒星说明在银河系中心 Watching these things shows the presence of a four million times
有一个质量为太阳400万倍的黑洞 the mass of our sun black hole located right at the heart of our galaxy.
这是个重大发现 It is a huge discovery.
银河系里的一切, 包括太阳系 Everything in our galaxy, including our own solar system,
都在绕着一个超大质量黑洞运行 orbits around a supermassive black hole.
但黑洞并非只存在于银河系中心 But the Milky Way isn't the only galaxy with a black hole in the middle.
宇宙中很多星系的中心 There are super massive black holes
都存在超大质量黑洞 at the heart of most galaxies in the universe.
仙女星系是离我们最近的邻居 The Andromeda galaxy is our closest neighbour.
它绕着一个比太阳… It circles around a supermassive black hole
重1.4亿倍的黑洞旋转 weighing 140 million times more than our sun.
至于其它星系, 像这个M87 Other galaxies, like this one, M87,
有相等于太阳重量200亿倍的黑洞 have black holes weighing as much as 20 billion suns.
黑洞是怎样变得如此巨大 How do black holes get so big,
它们为何存在于星系的中心? and what are they doing at the centre of galaxies?
为了找到答案, 我们需要追溯到… For answers,
140亿年前宇宙刚诞生的时候 we have to go back nearly 14 billion years, to the beginning of the universe.
那时宇宙充满大爆炸残留的气体云 Back then, the universe was a filled with clouds of gas from the big bang.
在一些地方, 气体够浓厚 In some places, the gas was thick enough
从而形成数百万颗恒星 for millions of stars to form.
最初的恒星中多数都是超巨星 Most of the first stars were supermassive.
温度极高, 燃烧速度也快 They burned hot and fast,
它们在爆炸后产生大量黑洞 and then exploded creating lots of black holes.
早期宇宙是个野蛮疯狂的地方 The early universe was a wild and crazy place
大范围的物质土崩瓦解 where huge regions of mass were collapsing catastrophically
从而制造出黑洞 producing black holes.
其实早 And in fact
早期的宇宙可能处处充斥着新生黑洞 the early universe might have been full of emerging black holes everywhere.
引力将许多黑洞牵引到一起 Gravity pulled many of them together.
它们相互合并形成更大的黑洞 All over the early universe they merged, creating larger and larger black holes.
数亿年间, 黑洞不断增长 Over hundreds of millions of years, each black hole grew
产生更大引力 producing stronger gravity
吸入更多星际气体 and pulling in more and more gas.
新恒星从气体诞生, 形成原始星系 New stars were born from the gas, forming primitive galaxies.
黑洞不断吸入气体直到容不下为止 But the black hole kept on sucking in gas until it could take no more.
点燃宇宙中最强大喷火器 Igniting the most powerful flame thrower in the universe.
一个年轻星系就是一个星团… A young galaxy is a vast cluster of stars,
由气体中诞生的恒星所构成 stars that formed from clouds of gas.
新星系中心有个年轻超大质量黑洞 At the centre of the new galaxy is a young suoermassive black hole
通过吞噬气体而不断成长 feeding on the gas, getting bigger and bigger.
若你能想象当星系很年轻正在成形 If you can imagine when a galaxy is very young and still forming,
中心形成了一个超大质量黑洞 there's a supermassive black hole forming at the core
而气体不断坠落其中 and the gas is still falling into it
继续形成这一星系 and still forming the galaxy.
在中心黑洞附近, 物体变得非常热 Well, near that central black hole, things are getting very hot,
物质不断升温 that material's heating up.
气体高速进入黑洞 Gas is speeding into the black hole,
但黑洞超载 but it overloads,
没有空间供多余炙热气体进入 and there's no room for all that excess hot gas.
无法进入的气体被黑洞吐出 It has nowhere to go but out.
喷入太空形成巨大能量流 It's blasted into space in huge jets of energy.
每道能量流都比太阳系宽20倍 Each jet is 20 times wider than our solar system
高速穿越星系 and shoots clear through the galaxy.
这个超大质量黑洞点燃一个类星体 The supermassive black hole has ignited a quasar.
类星体是宇宙中最亮的物体 Quasars are literally the brightest objects in the universe.
它们亮度很高 They're so intense
令整个星系黯然失色 they can outshine an entire galaxy.
这是M87星系一个真实类星体照片 This is a real photograph of a real quasar in the galaxy M87,
距离我们5000万光年 50 million light years away.
类星体从所在星系喷出大量气体 Quasars blast away huge quantities of gas from the surrounding galaxy,
每分钟喷出总量相当于10个地球 the equivalent of 10 Earths every minute.
气体受热膨胀向外扩散 When you heat up a gas, it tends to expand and it blows outward.
有些像风但规模巨大 And it's sort of like a wind but on a huge scale,
于是产生黑洞风 and you get a black hole wind,
即是从黑洞喷出的气体 gas blowing out from the black hole.
黑洞吸入气体, 类星体将气体喷出 Black holes suck gas in. Quasars blow it out.
但最终, 没有多余气体来制造恒星 But eventually, there's no gas left to make stars
星系也就停止了成长 and the galaxy stops growing.
因此我们认为星系最终的规模 So we think that the eventual size that a galaxy can achieve
取决于其中心的黑洞 depends on the black hole in its centre.
二者休戚相关 The two are tied together.
失去了气体原料 With no gas left to feed on,
类星体逐渐萎缩并消失了 the quasar jets shrink and die.
星系中心只剩下一个超大质量黑洞 What's left is a supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy
和许多年轻恒星 with a whole lot of young stars,
银河系年轻时就是这样 just like our Milky Way back when it was young.
在银河系早期, 当它是年轻星系时 Early on in the history of the Milky Way, when it was a young galaxy,
可能是个类星体 we were probably a quasar.
大概每个星系早期都曾经是类星体 Probably every big galaxy was a quasar when it was young,
但现在银河系已经成年 but right now, we're old enough
整个星系安静下来 that the galaxy has quieted down.
现在天文学家正在寻找类星体 Now, astronomers are looking for quasars,
这有可能是我们找到更多黑洞 the secret to finding more black holes,
和弄清其运作方式的重要线索 and figuring out how they work.
钱德拉天文台是一台太空望远镜 The Chandra Observatory is a space telescope
能探测到类星体发出的X射线 that can detect the powerful X-rays quasars send out.
它已找到数千个类星体 It's found thousands.
这些影像展现出各种形状类星体 These remarkable images show quasars of all shapes and sizes
向太空喷发射线 firing out into space.
每个类星体都是年轻星系的雏形 Each one is a signpost for a young galaxy
它们中心都存在一个新生黑洞 with a new black hole at its centre.
这些类星体最终会安静下来 These quasars will eventually calm down
当年轻星系逐渐成熟和成形 as their galaxy matures and takes its final shape.
我认为宇宙很像人类 I guess the universe is a lot like people,
年轻时充满活力 active when they're young,
长大后变得比较安静和放松 little bit quieter and more relaxed when they get older.
我们现在知道超大质量黑洞 We now know that supermassive black holes,
和它们创造的类星体 and the quasars they create,
控制着星系 control galaxies.
黑洞对于理解星系的形成极为重要 Black holes are central to understanding how galaxies form.
它们是了解星系进化史的关键 They're a key to understanding how they evolve with time.
因此, 更明确地说它们是… So, in fact, rather than being obscura, they're fundamental
认识星系和宇宙的基石 to our understanding of our galaxies and our universe.
进一步了解黑洞的唯一办法 The only way to find out more about black holes
就是加以仔细观察 is to get a good look at one.
但近距离拜访似乎不是好主意 And since an up-close visit is. well, not a good idea,
天文学家试图采取新方法 astronomers are trying to devise a way to take a picture
拍摄银河系中心的超大质量黑洞 of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our own galaxy.
因此需要像地球一样大的望远镜 To get it, they'll need a telescope as large as Earth itself.
银河系中心有个巨大黑洞 Tthere is supermassive blackhole at the center of the milkyway
藏身于围绕银河系中心旋转星团中 It's hidden by a dense cluster of stars circling the heart of the galaxy.
我们希望在不久将来能够见到它 But soon, we hope we'll be able to see it
眼见为实 Seeing is believing.
那会很棒, 若能到达那里亲眼见到 It would be spectacular if we can go right up there nose-to-nose
银河系中心的黑洞的事件穹界 with the event horizon of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.
这就是我们的圣杯 And that's the Holy Grail.
多数星系中心都隐藏着一个… A supermassive black hole lies hidden
超大质量黑洞 at the centre of most galaxies.
我们知道它们存在 We only know they're there
因为绕着其转动的恒星 because the stars around them
速度高达每小时数百万哩 are drawn in at millions of miles per hour.
但我们还是有可能对黑洞边缘 But there might still be a way to take a picture
也就是事件穹界, 进行拍照 of the very edge of the black hole, the event horizon.
多勒曼的研究团队 Shep Doeleman and his team
正致力捕捉显示它的外形的影像 are trying to capture an image that shows its outline.
我们其实是在旋转气体云中 We're essentially looking for the shadow, or the silhouette of the black hole
寻找黑洞的轮廓 within this cloud of gas that's swirling around it
我们对这个技术寄予厚望 This technique that we're exploiting is the best hope,
希望勾勒出宇宙这个… I think, we have to actually image a region of the universe
我们一直看不见的区域 which has hither to have been completely invisible to us.
光学望远镜不能直接观测到黑洞 Optical telescopes can't see the black hole directly,
但黑洞周围的发光炽热气体 but the glowing superheated gas surrounding the black hole
会发射出无线电波 sends out radiowaves
我们可以利用电波来勾勒一个影像 that can be used to make an image.
大型无线电望远镜能够接收到这些来自太空的信号 Huge radio telescopes pick up these signals from space.
天线调整方位角和高度 The antenna will move in azimuth and elevation.
位于波士顿附近麻省理工学院的… This one, at the MIT observatory near Boston,
天文望远镜超过100尺宽 is more than a hundred feet wide.
探测到从25000光年之外发射的 It's big enough to detect very faint radio emissions
非常微弱的无线电辐射 from the black hole in our galaxy, 25,000 light years away,
但这架望远镜规模太小无法成像 but it's not nearly big enough to capture an image.
我们需要多个类似的望远镜 We need to take multiple copies of these telescopes,
将它们放置在世界各地 place them around the world
以形成与地球等大的虚拟望远镜 to create a virtual telescope as large as the Earth itself.
从夏威夷到智利, 再到非洲 Doeleman's team will link up radio telescopes around the globe,
他们将全球无线电望远镜连接起来 from Hawaii to Chile to Africa.
当整个网络连接好后 When the whole network is connected,
他们有一个直径1万哩的虚拟天线 they'll have a virtual dish over 10,000 miles across
观测能力是单个望远镜的500倍 with 500 times the power of a single telescope.
虚拟望远镜足够强大 They think it will be powerful enough
可以拍摄到银河系中心的黑洞… to take a picture of the event horizon of the supermassive black hole
的事件穹界 at the centre of the Milky Way.
它们已收集到银河系中心的信号 They're already picking signals from the dark heart of our galaxy.
当我们第一次探测到信号时 When we saw the first detection,
那一刻我盯着计算机屏幕 it was a moment where I just looked at the computer screen
跟自己说: 天哪, 我们成功了 and said to myself, "My God, we've done it."
我们看到的东西真的非常小 "We've actually seen something that's so small"
所以它一定是来自事件穹界附近 "that it has to be coming from right around the event horizon."
但信号太微弱, 无法获得完整照片 The signals are still too weak to give a complete picture,
但透过加强望远镜的全球联网 but Doeleman expects the images to improve
多勒曼预计可以改善图像的质量 as more telescopes come online over the next few years.
黑洞的轮廓将最终显现出来 Eventually, the outline of the black hole itself should emerge.
但照片当然比不上亲眼所见 But even a picture can't compare to witnessing it for yourself.
在遥远未来, 我们或可以掌握… In the distant future,
进入和穿越黑洞的技术 we may have the technology to actually enter and pass through a black hole,
甚至可以在旅程中存活下来 and maybe even survive the journey.
那时我们也许能够回答 Then, we might finally answer the question,
黑洞中心到底隐藏着甚么? "What lies at the heart of a black hole?"
一些科学家认为我们可以将黑洞 Some scientists believe we could use black holes as a kind of portal,
用作穿越宇宙的大门 with the potential for travel across the universe.
这仍是一个大胆猜测 This is still very speculative,
但数学推算似乎表明 but the mathematics seem to indicate
当你坠落黑洞里, 你不会死去 that as you fall through a black hole that you don't simply die,
而会穿过一个虫洞 you fall right through a wormhole,
一条穿越时空的快捷方式 which is a gateway, a shortcut through space and time.
也许可以从这个被称为黑洞的地铁 Perhaps we could simply rocket across the universe
飞驰到宇宙的另一端 through a subway system that we call a black hole.
若黑洞是穿越时空的快捷方式 if black holes are shortcuts through space and time.
科幻小说的奇思异想将变为现实 it could tirn one of the coolest ideas from science fiction into reality.
时间旅行是可能的, 但不切实际 Time-travel is possible but not very practical.
让虫洞一直保持通畅的… You see, the energy source, the material that you need
能量和原料太特殊 to keep the throat of a wormhole open,
所以无法在实验室中制造 is something so exotic that we cannot produce it in the laboratory.
但若你能造出来 But if you could,
就有可能利用黑洞的力量回到过去 it might be possible to exploit the power of black holes to visit yesterday.
也许我们的后代能够掌握这技术 Perhaps our descendants in the future have already mastered this technology,
所以若有一天, 有人敲你的家门 so one day, if somebody knocks on your door
说是你的重重重重重孙女 and claims to be your great-great-great great-great-great-great granddaughter,
不要将门大力关上 dont slam the door.
黑洞可能是通向其它宇宙的通道 Black holes might even be gateways to other universes.
黑洞的另一端可能也发生过大爆炸 On the other side of a black hole, there could even be a big bang.
当黑洞塌陷, 物质坠落其中 As a black hole collapses and matter falls into it,
物质会在另外一端被吹出落入白洞 perhaps the matter is blown out the other side in a white hole.
这听起来难道不像大爆炸吗? Doesn't that sound like the big bang?
若大爆炸就是黑洞反面 if a big bang is just the flipside of a black hole,
似乎就解释了宇宙诞生奥秘 this could be how our own universe was born.
看看黑洞方程式 If you look at the equations for a black hole
轮入宇宙参数 and put in the parameters of the universe,
如质量和体积, 找到了 the mass of the universe, the size of the universe, bingo,
你会发现我们的宇宙… you find that our universe actually solves
其实解答了黑洞方程式 the equations for a black hole.
即是我们就处于事件穹界之中 In other words, we could be inside an event horizon.
也许我们就生活在黑洞当中 Perhaps we are actually living inside a black hole.
每个黑洞可能是另一个宇宙的起源 Every black hole might be the origin of an entirely separate universe.
若是真的, 可能有数十亿个宇宙 If that's true, there could be billions of universes out there.
每个宇宙都充满恒星, 行星和生命 Each one full of stars, planets, life.
不管这种推理意味着甚么 Whatever we figure out later,
我们现在知道黑洞遍布太空 we know now that black holes are everywhere.
无论体积和对宇宙进化的重要性 They're bigger in size and more critical to the evolution of the universe
都比我们想象中大得多 than we ever imagined.
我们对所处宇宙环境 Literally, our understanding of the universe that's important around us,
和可以观测到的宇宙的认识 the universe that's visible to telescopes,
已深深受到了… has been profoundly affected by our realization
黑洞无处不在这种认识的影响 that black holes are everywhere.
很久以前人们认为… Once upon a time,
黑洞物理学太过天马行空 people thought that black hole physics was too fantastic to be true.
现在它们是核心 And now they are centre stage.
我们现在知道黑洞主宰宇宙进化 We now know they dominate the evolution of the universe itself.
我小时候, 黑洞只是科幻小说情节 When I was a kid, black holes basically played a part in science fiction.
那是必须躲开的 It was always something to avoid, your spaceship,
宇宙飞船要绕道而行以免被吸进去 you try to get around them before you get drawn in.
但后来了解到黑洞不但很重要 But what we've learned since then is that black holes play a huge role,
而且扮演非常多的角色 and a huge number of roles in the universe.
这样说并不夸张, 若黑洞不存在 It's not an exaggeration to say that if black holes did not exist,
我们也不会存在 we wouldn't be here.
我们的存在全赖黑洞 We literally owe our existence to black holes.
故事还未结束 The story's not over yet
关于这些叫做黑洞… There's still much more to be discovered
和被视为宇宙的主宰的神秘物体 about the mysterious objects called black holes,
还有更多奥秘等待我们去发现 the masters of the universe.
翻译/摘订时间轴/校对：啥时候摇中