NASA: Scientists Discover Oldest Black Hole Yet

NASA: Scientists Discover Oldest Black Hole Yet

美国宇航局:科学家发现迄今最古老的黑洞

【原文听力】

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　　By Caty Weaver

　　08 November 2023

　　Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole yet.

　　The huge object formed about 470 million years after the Big Bang, researchers said.

　　The study was published recently in Nature Astronomy. The researchers said the findings confirm their theory: Supermassive black holes existed in the very early universe. The United States space agency, NASA, used its James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory over the past year to make the observations.

　　If the universe is 13.7 billion years old, the age of this black hole would be 13.2 billion years.

　　The scientists said that this oldest black hole is extremely massive — 10 times bigger than the black hole in our own Milky Way galaxy.

　　It is believed to weigh anywhere from 10 percent to 100 percent the mass of all the stars in its galaxy, said the study's lead writer Akos Bogdan of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. That is far larger than all the black holes in our Milky Way and its closer galactic neighbors, he noted. Their mass on average is only about one-tenth of a percent of that of the stars in their galaxies.

　　"It's just really early on in the universe to be such a behemoth," said Yale University's Priyamvada Natarajan, a study team member. The Astrophysical Journal Letters published a report linked to the study.

　　"It's astounding how this thing actually is sitting in place already with its galaxy so early on in the universe," Natarajan said.

　　The researchers believe the black holes formed from huge clouds of gas that collapsed in a galaxy next to another with stars. The two galaxies joined, and the black hole was in control.

　　The Chandra telescope found the object with X-ray imaging. That fact confirms "without a doubt that it is a black hole," Natarajan said. With X-rays "you're actually capturing the gas that is being gravitationally pulled into the black hole, sped up and it starts glowing in the X-rays," she said.

　　Natarajan also said this black hole is considered a quasar since it is actively growing, and the gas is extremely bright.

　　In addition to the latest find, scientists said the Webb telescope might have found a black hole that is 29 million years older. However, that object still needs to be observed in X-rays to be confirmed. Natarajan expects more early black holes will be found — perhaps not as far away, but still very distant.

　　"We are expecting a new window to open in the universe, and I think this is the first crack," she said.

　　The two space telescopes — Webb and Chandra — were able to observe the part of space that holds this galaxy, UHZ1, and its black hole because of what is called "gravitational lensing." The gravity of a galaxy much closer to Earth magnified the apparent image of UHZ1 and its black hole, which are further in the background.

　　"It's a pretty faint object, and thanks to...luck, nature has magnified it for us," Natarajan said.

　　NASA launched the Webb telescope in 2021 to a point 1.6 million kilometers away from Earth. It is the biggest and most powerful observatory ever sent into space. Webb captures images of the universe in infrared light. The much older Chandra records X-ray radiation. It was sent into orbit in 1999.

　　"I absolutely find it amazing that Chandra can do such amazing discoveries 24 years after its launch," Bogdan said.

　　I'm Caty Weaver.

　　The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　凯蒂·韦弗

　　2023年11月8日

　　科学家发现了迄今为止最古老的黑洞。

　　研究人员说，这个巨大的物体形成于大爆炸后大约4.7亿年。

　　这项研究最近发表在《自然天文学》上。研究人员表示，这些发现证实了他们的理论:超大质量黑洞存在于非常早期的宇宙中。在过去的一年中，美国宇航局使用詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜和钱德拉X射线天文台进行了观测。

　　如果宇宙的年龄是137亿岁，这个黑洞的年龄将是132亿岁。

　　科学家们表示，这个最古老的黑洞极其巨大——比我们银河系中的黑洞大10倍。

　　哈佛-史密森天体物理中心的首席作家阿科斯·波格丹一世说，据信它的重量是银河系所有恒星质量的10%到100%。他指出，这远远大于我们银河系中的所有黑洞以及更近的银河系邻居。它们的平均质量只有所在星系中恒星质量的十分之一。

　　“这只是在宇宙的早期阶段巨兽研究小组成员、耶鲁大学的Priyamvada Natarajan说。《天体物理学杂志快报》发表了一篇与该研究相关的报告。

　　“这是令人惊骇的纳塔拉詹说:“在宇宙早期，这个东西实际上已经和它的星系在一起了。”。

　　研究人员认为，黑洞是由巨大的气体云形成的，这些气体云在一个有恒星的星系中坍塌。两个星系结合了，黑洞控制了局面。

　　钱德拉望远镜通过X射线成像发现了这个物体。纳塔拉詹说，这一事实证实了“毫无疑问这是一个黑洞”。用X射线,“你实际上是在捕捉被引力拉入黑洞的气体，加速并开始灼热的在x光片里，”她说。

　　纳塔拉詹还说这个黑洞被认为是类星体因为它正在活跃地生长，而且气体极其明亮。

　　除了最新的发现，科学家们说韦伯望远镜可能发现了一个2900万年前的黑洞。但是，那个物体还需要在x光下观察才能确认。纳塔拉詹预计会发现更多早期黑洞——也许不会那么远，但仍然非常遥远。

　　“我们期待宇宙中打开一扇新的窗户，我认为这是第一扇裂缝，”她说。

　　两台太空望远镜——韦伯和钱德拉——能够观测到拥有这个星系的那部分空间，UHZ1和它的黑洞，因为这被称为“引力透镜”。离地球更近的星系的引力放大UHZ1和它的黑洞的表观图像，在更远的背景中。

　　“真漂亮模糊的对象，感谢...运气，大自然为我们放大了它，”纳塔拉詹说。

　　美国宇航局于2021年将韦伯望远镜发射到距离地球160万公里的地方。这是有史以来送入太空的最大、最强大的天文台。韦伯用红外线捕捉宇宙图像。更古老的钱德拉记录了X射线辐射。它于1999年被送入轨道。

　　“我绝对找到了令人惊异的波格丹一世说:“钱德拉在发射24年后还能做出如此惊人的发现。

　　我是凯蒂·韦弗。

　　美联社报道了这个故事。凯蒂·韦弗将它改编成美国之音英语学习节目。

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　　这个故事中的词语

　　behemoth –n.非常大和强大的东西

　　astounding –adj. 令人感到惊讶和惊奇的

　　glowing –adj. 发出稳定温暖的光

　　quasar –n. 非常遥远的强大无线电波源

　　crack –n.某物上细长的裂缝

　　magnify –v. 使某物看起来比实际上更接近的属性

　　faint –adj. 不明亮的；很难看到

　　amazing –adj. 美妙的；非常有趣