了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S06E05

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

神秘的光
Mysterious lights
来自遥远的深空，它的亮度
shine out from the edge of space,
比一万亿颗太阳还要亮
brighter than a trillion suns.
它们一定是我们在宇宙中见过的
They had to be the brightest objects
最亮的物体，它所释放出的能量，按照现有理论
we've ever seen in the universe, putting out amounts of energy
我们无法解释
that we couldn't possibly explain.
如此强大的能量，可以把行星烧成灰烬
So powerful, they can incinerate planets
把恒星撕成碎片
and rip stars to pieces.
这是宇宙中最神秘
These are among the most mysterious
最具能量的现象之一
and most energetic phenomenon in the universe.
它们可以摧毁星系
They can destroy galaxies,
但也可能是星系存在的关键
but may also be the key to their survival.
这些物体是各种疯狂物理的温床
These objects are a hotbed of all kinds of crazy physics.
这些强大的天体被称为类星体
These celestial powerhouses are called quasars,
我们的存在可能也要归功于它们
and we may owe them our very existence.
宇宙是如何运行的
第六季第五集类星体之谜
几十年来，天文学家
For decades, astronomers have observed
一直在观察夜空中的亮点
brilliant points of light in the night sky,
但它们有一些奇怪的地方
but there was something strange about them.
它们看起来就像一个光点，就像一颗星星
They looked like a pinprick of light, like a star,
所以它们一开始真的很神秘
and so they were really mysterious initially.
它们是一种新的恒星类型？
Are they a new type of star,
还是完全不同的东西？
or something else entirely？
在室女座星系团中，就隐藏着这样的
One of these strange objects is hiding within
一个奇怪的物体
the Virgo galaxy cluster.
从地球上看，3c 273 物体看起来就像附近的一颗恒星
From Earth, object 3c 273 looks just like a nearby star,
但科学家在研究它的光线时，有了一个惊人的发现
but scientists studying its light made a stunning discovery.
它非常遥远
It was tremendously far away.
它不仅不在我们的星系中
It not only was not in our galaxy,
甚至不在我们能看到的任何星系中
it wasn't even in any galaxy that they could see.
它在十亿光年之外
It was over a billion light-years away.
如果它离我们那么远，却是那么亮
If it's that far away and as bright as it was,
那么它一定是宇宙中最亮的物体了
this must be the most luminous known object in the universe.
这就是为什么这些东西在这么长时间里
And this is one of the reasons these were so mysterious
一直保持神秘
for so long.
这些天体非常明亮
These objects are so bright that,
尽管距离遥远
despite the incredible distance,
但对我们来说，它们看起来就像附近的恒星
to us, they look like nearby stars.
它们被称为类似恒星的物体，简称类星体
They're called quasi-stellar objects, quasars for short.
但它们是什么呢？
But what are they？
通过对类星体更详细的观察
With more detailed observations of quasars,
我们发现它们并非来自任何随机的地方
we found that they don't originate from any random place.
它们总是来自星系的核心
They always come from the core of a galaxy.
类星体是一个来自非常遥远的
A quasar is the ultra-bright core
星系的超亮核心
of an extremely distant galaxy.
我们能看到它们的原因
The reason we can see them at all
是因为它们不可思议的力量
is the result of their incredible power.
一颗类星体比整个星系更耀眼
A single quasar outshines an entire galaxy,
产生的能量相当于把数千亿颗恒星的
hundreds of billions of stars' worth of energetic output,
所有这些能量都集中在一个源上
all concentrated into a single source.
人类在地球上所见过的最大能量的
One of the most energetic events that human beings
事件之一就是有史以来
have ever been witness to on Earth
爆♥炸♥力最大的原♥子♥弹♥
is the biggest atomic bomb ever exploded.
而据我们所知，类星体每秒释放的能量
We're aware of quasars out there that are putting out more energy
要比那个超过
than 1 trillion trillion of those massive
1万亿倍
atomic bomb blasts per second.
它只是将巨大的能量聚集在一个
It is just a huge amount of energy packed into
非常非常非常小的体积里
a very, very, very small volume,
这几乎让人难以置信
and that is almost literally unbelievable.
但是如果它们这么小，它们是如何产生
But if they're so small, how can they produce
如此巨大的能量呢？
such vast amounts of energy？
能够产生这样明亮，这样充沛能量，但又不是很大的东西
How can you generate something that's so bright, so energetic,
是怎么产生的呢？
but not be very large？
是什么能够驱动这样的东西？
What could possibly power something like that？
藏在类星体里的
Hiding within a quasar
一定是一个非常强大的引擎
must be a very powerful engine.
什么样的物体能产生那么大的能量
What kind of object can generate that much energy,
并用那么大的能量来创造这些东西？
that kind of power to create these things？
宇宙中只有一样东西
There's only one thing in the universe
质量足够大，密度足够大……
that's both massive enough and dense enough...
黑洞
A black hole.
这是我们所知的宇宙中唯一可以为类星体
That is the only thing that we know of in the universe
提供能量的东西
that could power a quasar.
比太阳大25倍的恒星
Eventually, stars 25 times more massive
当它们与重力的长♥期♥战斗中败下来的时候
than our sun lose their lifelong battle against gravity.
它们遭受到了灾难性的崩溃
They suffer a catastrophic collapse.
所有令人难以置信的质量
All their incredible mass is compressed
都被压缩成一个点……
into a single point...
于是黑洞产生了
Giving birth to a black hole.
黑洞是独一无二的
Black holes are totally unique.
宇宙中没有像它们一样的东西
There's nothing else like them in the universe.
它们的质量和密度都极高
They're extremely massive and dense.
它们在这么小的空间里塞满了非常多的质量
They have so much mass crammed in such a small space
以至于它们极大地扭曲了空间
that they distort space a tremendous amount.
它们创造了被称为事件视界的区域
They create regions called event horizons.
这些怪物的边界，也就是视界
The boundary of these monsters, the event horizon,
是一个无法返回的点
is a point of no return.
任何越过那条线的东西都不会再回来
Anything that crosses that line is never coming back,
哪怕是光
not even light.
所以当光试图自♥由♥地穿越时空时
So as light tries to freely fly through space and time,
空间和时间会向后弯曲
that space and time is bent back in on itself,
这意味着光永远无法逃脱
and that means light can never escape.
我们在宇宙中所观察到的黑洞
We see black holes across the universe.
它们的质量从普通的
They range in mass from regular,
比太阳大三倍的
three times more massive than our sun,
到超大的……确切的说，是超级大质量的
to supersized... Supermassive, in fact.
所以我们认为类星体
So we think that quasars represent
应是我们在宇宙中看到的最大的黑洞
the largest black holes that we see in the universe.
我们这里说的可是比太阳大数十亿倍的黑洞
We're talking billions of times more massive than our sun.
这几乎就是你能想象的极限
It is literally almost at the edge of your ability
对吧，我们甚至很难想象
to perceive, right, our ability to even
一个黑洞的质量竟然能够如此之大
think about black holes being so massive,
它们的质量达到了太阳的十亿倍
that they're a billion times the mass of our sun.
正是这种巨大的质量导致了
It's this enormous mass that leads
它们巨大的引力
to their enormous gravity.
我们认为只有超大质量的黑洞
We think that only supermassive black holes
才能提供这样的能量
could provide the power,
但类星体的亮度比它们所在的整个星系更耀眼
but quasars outshine their entire galaxies.
黑洞把东西吸进去，它们是黑色的
Black holes suck things down. They're black.
它们怎么可能明亮呢？
How can they possibly be bright？
黑洞是贪婪的食客
Black holes are voracious eaters.
它们将气体和尘埃拖入黑洞
They drag in gas and dust,
在黑洞周围形成物质环
which builds up in a ring of material around the black hole.
我们称之为吸积盘
We call this the accretion disk.
你可以把它想象成一个巨大的物质漩涡
You could think of it as a giant whirlpool of matter
它们正试图落入超大质量黑洞
that's trying to fall onto the supermassive black hole.
然而，它不可能一次性全部落进去
Well, it can't all fall in at once,
所以在圆盘上会产生很多摩擦
and so there's a lot of friction in this disk.
这种摩擦随着
This friction increases
气体和尘埃运动的加速而增加
as the motion of the gas and dust speeds up.
这个速度值与光速相比可能是一个很大的分数
That could be a significant fraction of the speed of light.
如果你以接近光速的速度摩擦双手
If you rub your hands together at a significant fraction
它们就会蒸发
of the speed of light, they will vaporize.
因为他们会变得非常热
They will get very hot.
吸积盘中的物质
And so the material in this accretion disk
可以被加热到几百万度
can actually get heated to millions of degrees.
当物质被加热时，就会产生辐射
When matter heats up, it produces radiation,
我们称之为光
which we see as light.
星系的中心在发光
The center of the galaxy shines,
在数十亿光年之外都能看到