New Space Telescope Aims to Show 'Dark Universe'

New Space Telescope Aims to Show 'Dark Universe'

新的空间望远镜旨在展示“暗宇宙”

【原文听力】

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　　By Jill Robbins

　　12 November 2023

　　European astronomers released the first images from the new Euclid space telescope last week.

　　The European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. space agency, NASA, designed Euclid to study dark matter and dark energy. Scientists think those hidden forms of matter and energy make up 95 percent of the universe.

　　ESA is leading the six-year mission with NASA as a partner. ESA said the images were the most detailed of their kind. They show the telescope's ability to observe billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away.

　　The images covered four areas of the sky. They include 1,000 galaxies belonging to the Perseus cluster of galaxies 240 million light years away. In the background, the image shows more than 100,000 galaxies, ESA said.

　　The cluster is called the Perseus cluster because it appears in the star group, or constellation, Perseus.

　　Scientists believe such large structures like the Perseus cluster could only have formed if dark matter exists.

　　ESA's science director Carole Mundell said, "We think we understand only 5 percent of the universe: that's the matter that we can see."

　　"The rest of the universe we call dark," she continued, "because it doesn't produce light...But we know its effect because we see the effect on visible matter."

　　One sign of dark matter's hidden force is that galaxies rotate more quickly than scientists expect.

　　Mundell said it seems to have the effect of pulling together some of the largest structures in the universe, like groups of galaxies.

　　Dark energy is a new mystery

　　In the 1990s, scientists largely established the existence of dark matter after studying exploding stars called supernovas. That work resulted in a 2011 Nobel Prize shared between three U.S.-born scientists.

　　Looking at images from the earlier Hubble Space Telescope, scientists came to believe that the universe was not only expanding but that it was expanding faster and faster. That surprising discovery relied on a new concept: dark energy.

　　A new galaxy map

　　Euclid has been in a period of testing since its launch. Now it will start taking the images to make a 3D, or three-dimensional, map covering about a third of the sky. Scientists will use that map to look for small differences caused by the dark universe. Scientists hope the new understanding of dark energy and matter will help us learn about how galaxies formed, and why they are found across the universe.

　　Mundell said, "The purpose of the Euclid mission is really to start to probe that dark sector of the universe in ways that we've been unable to presently with current ground and space missions."

　　She added that the Perseus cluster is a good example of this huge gathering of mass. "We think there's lots of dark matter in that cluster and pulling these galaxies together."

　　A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Euclid from Florida in July.

　　The mission is expected to last six years. However, ESA hopes that Euclid will continue another six months if there is enough fuel to keep it in orbit around the sun. Euclid is orbiting the sun about 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth at "Lagrange Point Two," or L2. That is a place where the gravity of the sun, moon and Earth are balanced. A spacecraft can stay there, using less fuel. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is also at L2, but it is not in danger of crashing into Euclid.

　　Other images released by ESA included an unusual galaxy with no exact form. Another was a spiral galaxy, sometimes called the "Hidden Galaxy," which looks much like our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

　　Speaking of the Perseus cluster, Mundell said, "You'll also see lots of background galaxies there as well, which is phenomenal. I think I spotted a new one there last night."

　　I'm Jill Robbins.

　　This story was reported by Tim Hepher and Steve Gorman for Reuters. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.

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　　由吉尔·罗宾斯撰写

　　2023年11月12日

　　欧洲天文学家上周发布了新的欧几里得空间望远镜的首批图像。

　　欧洲空间局（ESA）和美国航天局（NASA）设计了欧几里得望远镜来研究暗物质和暗能量。科学家们认为这些隐藏的物质和能量占据了宇宙的95%。

　　ESA正在领导这个为期六年的任务，NASA是其合作伙伴。ESA表示，这些图像是此类图像中最详细的。它们展示了望远镜观察到的距离我们高达100亿光年的数十亿个星系的能力。

　　这些图像覆盖了天空的四个区域。它们包括属于距离我们2.4亿光年的英仙座星系团的1000个星系。在背景中，图像显示了超过100,000个星系，ESA说。

　　这个星系团被称为英仙座星系团，因为它出现在星群或星座英仙座中。

　　科学家们相信，像英仙座星系团这样的大型结构只有在暗物质存在的情况下才能形成。

　　ESA的科学主任卡罗尔·蒙德尔说：“我们认为我们只了解宇宙的5%：那就是我们能看到的物质。”

　　她继续说：“我们称其余的宇宙为‘暗’，因为它不产生光……但我们知道它的效应，因为我们看到了它对可见物质的影响。”暗物质隐藏力量的一个迹象是，星系的旋转速度比科学家预期的要快。

　　蒙德尔说，暗物质似乎有将宇宙中一些最大的结构，如星系团，聚集在一起的效应。

　　暗能量是一个新的谜团。

　　在1990年代，科学家们在研究被称为超新星的爆炸星体后，基本上确定了暗物质的存在。这项工作使得三位美国出生的科学家在2011年共享了诺贝尔奖。

　　通过观察早期哈勃空间望远镜的图像，科学家们开始相信宇宙不仅在扩张，而且扩张的速度越来越快。这个令人惊讶的发现依赖于一个新的概念：暗能量。

　　新的星系图自启动以来，欧几里得一直处于测试期。现在，它将开始拍摄图像，制作一个覆盖天空约三分之一的3D，或三维，地图。科学家们将使用这张地图来寻找暗宇宙引起的小差异。科学家们希望对暗能量和暗物质的新理解将帮助我们了解星系是如何形成的，以及为什么它们在宇宙中被发现。

　　蒙德尔说：“欧几里得任务的目的实际上是开始探测宇宙的暗部分，这是我们目前无法通过现有的地面和空间任务做到的。”她补充说，英仙座星系团是这种大规模聚集的一个很好的例子。“我们认为那个星系团中有很多暗物质，正在将这些星系聚集在一起。”今年7月，SpaceX的猎鹰9号火箭从佛罗里达州发射了欧几里得。

　　这个任务预计将持续六年。然而，如果有足够的燃料让它继续围绕太阳运行，ESA希望欧几里得能再继续运行六个月。欧几里得正在太阳的轨道上，距离地球约150万公里，位于“拉格朗日点二”或L2。那是一个太阳、月亮和地球的引力平衡的地方。一艘航天器可以在那里停留，使用较少的燃料。NASA的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜也在L2，但它不会与欧几里得相撞。

　　ESA发布的其他图像包括一个没有确切形状的不寻常的星系。另一个是螺旋星系，有时被称为“隐藏星系”，它看起来很像我们的家园银河系。

　　谈到英仙座星系团，蒙德尔说：“你也会看到那里有很多背景星系，这是非常惊人的。我想我昨晚在那里发现了一个新的。”我是吉尔·罗宾斯。

　　这个故事是由蒂姆·赫弗和史蒂夫·戈尔曼为路透社报道的。吉尔·罗宾斯为学习英语改编了它。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　galaxy – n.一个包含了许多星星和行星，延伸数十亿光年的巨大群体。

　　light year – n.光在一年内行走的距离；9.46万亿公里。

　　cluster – n. 一群紧密聚集在一起的物体。

　　rotate – v. 以圆形运动转动。

　　probe – v.提问或试图发现某事的事实。

　　sector – n.某事物或区域的一部分。

　　spiral – adj.一种围绕着旋转，每个曲线都在前一个曲线的上方或外侧的形状。

　　phenomenal – adj.异常伟大或好。