了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S06E01

Part 1 Dec. 22, 2021, 7:22 p.m.

宇宙学家们正在为宇宙中最大的谜团而战
Cosmologists are battling over
the universe's greatest enigma.
黑洞
Black holes.
我们从没见过他们
We've never seen them.
研究它们几乎是不可能的
It's near impossible
to study them.
它们的存在挑战了
And their existence
challenges everything
我们对宇宙的认知
we think we know about space.
黑洞是我们认知宇宙的
The black hole represents
the absolute limits
绝对极限
of what we understand
about nature.
事实上，我们几乎不知道这些东西是什么
The truth is, we have almost
no idea what these things are
以及它们是如何工作的
and how they work.
黑洞是宇宙学的核心
Black holes are at
the very heart of cosmology.
然而，有一些科学家质疑它们是否真实存在
Yet, some scientists question
if they're even real.
黑洞存在着许多悖论
Black holes present
lots of paradoxes,
而解决这些悖论的最简单方法就是
and the simplest way to resolve
the paradoxes would be
假设黑洞根本不存在
if black holes
didn't exist at all.
解决黑洞之谜
Solving the mysteries
of black holes
将我们对物理学的认知
pushes our understanding
of physics
推向理性的极限
to the edge of reason.
但这是发现黑洞是否真的存在的
But it's the only way
to discover
唯一方法
if black holes really exist.
宇宙是如何运行的
第六季第一集黑洞真实存在吗？
黑洞是宇宙中的怪物
Black holes are the monsters
of the universe...
可怕的宇宙野兽会吞噬他们遇到的一切
Terrifying cosmic beasts
that devour all they encounter.
但黑洞难到科学家的原因却不尽相同
But black holes scare scientists
for very different reasons.
它们对我们的理论挑战到了极限
They challenge our theories
to the breaking point.
这是理论物理学的前沿
This is at the forefront
of theoretical physics.
当涉及到黑洞的详细性质时
When it comes to the
detailed nature of black holes,
如果我们都错了，我也不会感到惊讶
it would not surprise me
if we got it all wrong.
黑洞的科学非常具有挑战性
The science of black holes
is so challenging
以至于一些科学家质疑它们是否真的存在
that some scientists question
whether they exist at all.
尽管它们臭名远扬
Despite their fearsome
reputation,
但我们从未见过
we've never actually seen one.
黑洞无处不在它们遍布整个宇宙
Black holes are everywhere.
They're all over the universe.
它们也遍布我们的银河系
They're all throughout
our galaxy.
但这并不意味着它们很容易找到
But that doesn't mean
that they're easy to find.
它们是黑色的
They're black,
and space is black,
空间也是黑色的
and black-on-black
is kind of hard
黑对黑在空间的图片中很难看到
to see in a picture of space.
这是自相矛盾的
This is paradoxical
因为科学家相信
because scientists believe
black holes are born
黑洞是在宇宙中一些最明亮的爆♥炸♥中诞生的……
in some of the brightest
explosions in the universe...
从比太阳大很多倍的恒星
rising from the corpses
of detonated stars
爆♥炸♥的尸体中诞生
many times larger than our sun.
星星的存在是因为一场史诗般的战争
这是一场关于因为自身的核聚变
产生的能量而导致的膨胀
与它们自身质量的引力之间的战争
随着时间的推移，核聚变最终输掉了这场战争
恒星的核心是核聚变
但他们的燃料来源不会永远存在
最终，当恒星的能量输出下降时
它就不能再产生足够的能量来克服自身的引力
其结果就是……
核心坍塌并释放出巨大的能量
在最后的喘息声中
超新星的外层爆♥炸♥了
如果恒星的质量足够大
最后剩下的就是一个黑洞
一颗燃烧了1000万年的恒星
A star that burns
for 10 million years
在几秒钟内就能坍缩形成一个黑洞
collapses to form a black hole
in a period of seconds.
在坍缩过程中
As it collapses,
恒星的外部区域撞击了核心
the outer region of the star
hits the core,
并引发了巨大的爆♥炸♥……一颗超新星
triggering a huge explosion...
A supernova.
我们看到爆♥炸♥，却看不到后面的东西……
We see the bang,
but not what's left behind...
一个有着恒星巨大质量的
a dead core with
the enormous mass of the star
死亡核心被挤压成一个无限小的区域内
crushed down into
an infinitesimal, tiny area.
在这个极小的大质量核心中
From this minuscule
high-mass core,
一个黑洞诞生了
a black hole is born.
引力流非常强大，没有任何东西能够逃脱
The flow of gravity is so strong
that nothing can escape...
哪怕是光
Not even light.
但如果我们连黑洞都看不见
But how can scientists claim
that black holes exist
科学家们又怎么能宣称黑洞是存在呢？
if we can't even see them?
你可以说原子是的存在
You could say that about
the existence of the atom.
我们知道它们存在已经有几十年了
We knew they had existed
for decades, centuries
甚至比我们在某种成像设备上看到它们还要早几个世纪
before we had actually seen one
in some sort of imaging device.
黑洞也是如此
And so it's the same sort
of thing with black holes.
你看不见它不代表它不存在
Just because you can't see it
doesn't mean it's not there.
虽然看不到黑洞，但知道它们的存在
Not seeing black holes
but knowing they're there
是有可能的
is a possibility,
就像我们虽然看不到空气
just like we know
that wind is there,
却知道风的存在一样
even though we can't see air.
空气是看不见的，但是当风吹起的时候
Air is invisible,
but when the wind blows,
它的影响是可以测量的
its effects can be measured.
黑洞也是如此
It's the same with black holes.
你只需要知道要寻找什么
You just need to know
what to look for.
虽然黑洞本身不发光
While they emit
no light themselves,
但它是巨大的x射线源
black holes are tremendous
sources of x-rays,
这是因为当物体接近黑洞时
and that's because as things
get close to a black hole,
它们会受到引力的加速
they're accelerated
by the gravity,
它们的温度可以达到数百万度
and they can heat up
to millions of degrees.
温度超过100万度的气体就能发出大量x射线
Million-degree gas
gives you lots of x-rays.
为了发现和测量这些能说明问题的x射线
To find and measure
these telltale x-rays,
科学家们需要求助于核光谱望远镜阵列
scientists turn
to the NuSTAR space telescope.
2017年，在银河系边缘
In 2017, it spots
a burst of x-rays
一个名为Tucanae 47的星系团中
in a cluster called 47 Tucanae,
发现了x射线爆发
at the edge of the milky way.
当科学家们分♥析♥数据时
When scientists analyze
the data,
他们意识到他们看到的是
they realize they're
looking at two objects
两个彼此绕着非常近的轨道运行的物体
orbiting each other
very closely.
我们所看到的是一颗恒星被撕裂
All we see is that there's
a star being ripped apart,
气体螺旋下降成为一个密度非常大，非常暗的物体
and gas is spiraling down to
a very dense, very dark object,
所以有些奇怪的事情正在发生
so something weird is going on.
当一个物体吸积另一个物体的物质时
As one of the objects
accretes matter off the other,
它就会发射x射线
it causes it to emit x-rays,