了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

to the darkest
最神秘的物体联♥系♥在一起
and most enigmatic entity in the universe
那就是超大质量黑洞
a supermassive Black Hole.
这是个有着巨大魅力和秘密的物体
It is an object of tremendous fascination and mystery.
它怎么会在那儿？
How did it get there?
它怎么会长得这么大？
How did it grow to be so large?
它还会继续长大吗？
Is it gonna continue to grow?
要找到星系的起源
To figure out the origins of our galaxy,
我们必须首先弄清 星系是怎么得到黑洞的
we must first find out how it got its Black Hole.
在早期宇宙 首批恒星诞生
In the early universe, the first stars burst into life.
这些恒星 和太阳有很大不同
But these stars, they're nothing like our sun.
首批恒星都非常非常的大
Those first stars were very, very massive.
伴随这巨大恒星发生的一件事情是
And one of the things that happens with massive stars
它们很快就爆♥炸♥
is they explode quickly.
在几亿年时间里
In just a few hundred million years,
氢燃料消耗殆尽
the biggest burn through their hydrogen fuel,
它就灭亡
and die.
他们会爆♥炸♥
They would've exploded
像强大的超新星 -- 爆♥炸♥的恒星
as incredibly powerful supernova, exploding stars.
它们的核心会坍塌 形成黑洞
Their cores would've collapsed to form Black Holes,
这也许是
and this may have been
宇宙中形成的首批黑洞
the very first Black Holes that formed in the universe.
这些黑洞起初很小
These Black Holes would start small.
再过几十亿年
Over billions of years,
一个黑洞通过吞食成长为怪物
one would eat and grow into the monster
现在就在我们银河系中心
that now sits at the heart of our galaxy.
这理论可信赖 但有个问题
It's a solid theory, but there's a problem.
天文学家们在早期宇宙
Astronomers find super-bright lights
发现超级亮的光
in the very early universe.
它们不是恒星
These aren't stars.
它们称为类星体
They're called quasars.
类星体是天文学的淘小子
Quasars are the bad boys of astronomy.
我们首先发现它们时 我们都困惑了
When we first found them, we were puzzled,
因为怎会有物体发射如此强的能量
because how can an object emit so much energy?
发出的能量足以点亮整个宇宙
The energy output is sufficient to light up the entire universe.
这些类星体
These quasars,
尽管比太阳系还小
though smaller than our solar system,
然而比一百个星系加在一起还要亮
somehow outshine 100 galaxies put together.
发出的能量大大超出恒星的能量
The energy emitted vastly exceeds the energy in a star.
我们知道能产生这种能量的
The only process we know
唯一的原因
that would produce that kind of energy
就是超大质量物体坍塌为
is the collapse of huge amounts of matter
巨大黑洞
into a massive Black Hole.
我们认识到 上帝呀
We realized, "Oh, my god.
这些其实是巨大的、暴怒的黑洞
These are, in fact, huge, raging Black Holes."
它们太大了
They're much bigger
超过死亡恒星所制♥造♥的黑洞
than those made at the end of a star's life.
我们谈论的不只是恒星级的黑洞
We're not just talking about a stellar mass Black Hole,
这个级别是太阳质量的五至二十倍
which might have 5 or 10 or 20 times the mass of the sun.
我们谈论的是真实的怪物
We're talking about a true monster
质量是太阳的数百万倍或数十亿倍
that has millions or billions of times the mass of the sun.
这些黑洞从哪儿来？
So where do these Black Holes come from?
它们太大了 不会是早期爆♥炸♥的恒星的产物
They're way too big to be the result of early exploding stars.
它们一定通过其它方式形成
They have to be formed in another way.
理论表明 早期恒星形成时
The theory that stars formed first,
汇聚形成星系
converging to build galaxies,
这理论需要彻底的修改
needs a radical overhaul.
那么是黑洞首先出现的？
Instead, does the Black Hole come first?
黑洞是创造之母？
Is it the mother of all creation,
黑洞制♥造♥了银河系、恒星和我们？
giving birth to the Milky Way, the stars, and us?
银河系
The Milky Way,
我们广袤的、耀眼的星系 有一颗黑暗的心
our vast, incandescent galaxy, has a heart of darkness.
光明或黑暗哪一个先出现呢？
But which came first the light or the dark?
这就好比鸡和蛋
It's almost sort of like a chicken and an egg.
星系或黑洞哪一个先出现？
Which came first, the galaxy or the Black Hole?
你需要黑洞制♥造♥星系
Do you need a Black Hole to make a galaxy,
还是需要大星系制♥造♥大黑洞
or do you need a large galaxy to make a large Black Hole?
黑洞先出现吗？
Did the Black Hole come first?
还是恒星和星系先出现？
Or did the stars and the galaxy come first?
一种理论 恒星先出现
In one theory, stars come first.
最大的恒星死去
The biggest die,
在死亡的痛苦中产生黑洞
creating a Black Hole during their death throes.
类星体的发现挑战这一理论
But the discovery of quasars challenges this.
在宇宙初开
There are supermassive Black Holes
有超大质量黑洞
at the very start of the universe,
它们太大了 不可能是首批恒星的残余
far too large to be the remnants of the first stars.
它们从哪儿来呢？
So where do they come from?
它们会继续产生星系吗？
And could they go on to create galaxies?
这是直接坍塌的新理论
Enter the new theory of direct collapse.
按照这理论 在宇宙早期
In this theory, in the very early universe,
有巨大的气体云
you have a giant gas cloud
直接坍塌为黑洞
that collapses straight into a Black Hole.
这就像恒星的诞生
It's just like the birth of a star,
但却是颗胎死腹中的恒星
but the star dies before it's born.
理论上是这样说的
The theory goes like this.
气体云聚合成团儿
Clouds of gas clump together.
它们螺旋式运转成一个中心点
They spiral into a central point,
形成难以置信的密度
becoming incredibly dense.
在这一点上 类似恒星的形成 内核会点燃
At this point in star formation the core would ignite.
这里 太多的气体和尘埃被加进来
But here, too much gas and dust is pilled in.
质量如此之大
The mass of it all is so great
引力变得不可控制
that gravity becomes unstoppable.
挤压气体 使之密度越来越大
It crushes the gas, making it denser and denser,
直到它的断点
until it reaches its breaking point.
最终 气体坍塌
Finally, the gas collapses,
如此的暴烈 以致空间结构被撕裂
so violently, it rips through the fabric of space.
超大质量黑洞诞生
A massive Black Hole is born.
现在谈论的黑洞
I'm talking about making a Black Hole that's way bigger
起规模比起恒星死亡时
than any kind of Black Hole
形成的黑洞还要大
that would form at the end of a star's life.
这就可以解释黑洞和类星体
This could explain how the Black Holes and quasars
怎会这么大 在宇宙里怎会出现这么早
are so huge so early on in the universe.
果真如此 那么也许是黑洞先于恒星出现
If true, then it might be Black Holes come first, before stars.
但目前 这仅是理论而已
But for now, it's just a theory.
评论家仍在探讨 关于银河系怎样形成
The jury is still out as to how our galaxy first forms.
这就是鸡和蛋的问题
The chicken-and-egg question is,
是黑洞创造星系
do Black Holes cause the galaxies
令我们绕其运转
to coil us around them,
或是星系逐步建立 挑战某个关键的、决定性的临界
or do the galaxies build up and hit some crucial, critical size,
越过这临界 黑洞就会在星系中心形成
beyond which Black Holes must form at their center?
我们希望了解更多
And we want to learn about that.
唯一的方法
And the only way to learn about
就是向宇宙望去 努力找出真♥相♥
that is to look out in the universe and try and find out.
要证明一个理论
To prove one of our theories,
需要可观测的证据
we need observational evidence.
一个小星系似乎可证明这点
And a small Dwarf galaxy might provide it.
海因兹2-10很年轻
Henize 2-10 is young.
它的很多恒星只有几百万年历史
Many of its stars are just a few million years old.
它也许可以令我们回望
It might provide us a look back
银河系的幼年时期
at our Milky Way in its infant years.
海因兹2-10 是一个令人感兴趣的小星系
Henize 2-10 is a very interesting, tiny Dwarf galaxy.
起初 我们研究这星系
Originally, I was studying this galaxy
是因为它正处于恒星形成期
because it has all this star formation going on.
但当我们关注全部的数据
But when I started looking at all of the data,
我有点震惊 且非常激动
I was sort of shocked and very excited.
我在这小星系中心发现了
I found a supermassive Black Hole
一个超大质量的黑洞
at the center of this little galaxy.
在星系发现黑洞不是新鲜事
Finding a Black Hole in a galaxy is nothing new,
新鲜的是
but the real discovery
这怪物黑洞的体量
is the size of this monster Black Hole.
我们对海因兹2-10黑洞的质量 最大的估计是