什么是暗星?

什么是暗星?

Black stars may be the most influential celestial bodies in the universe that no one knows for sure ever existed.

暗星可能是宇宙中最具影响力的天体，没有人确切知道它是否存在过。

In fact, they may be the elder stars of the cosmos, twinkling long before stars — at least as we know them now — showed up.

事实上，它们可能是宇宙中较老的恒星，早在恒星出现之前就闪烁着——至少我们现在知道它们——很久了。

Freese suggests dark stars are actually the seeds of the supermassive black holes that lurk in the heart of every galaxy. After all, even time-bending, light-hoovering regions of space have to grow from something. And that something may be a dark star.

Freese认为暗恒星实际上是潜伏在每个星系中心的超大质量黑洞的种子。毕竟，即使是时间弯曲、光线闪烁的空间区域也必须从某种东西中生长出来，可能是一颗暗星。

Dark stars wouldn't run on nuclear fusion, but rather dark matter. (Photo: nienora/Shutterstock)

The stars we see today all abide by the same general rule of nuclear fusion. The sheer mass of a star means it's always in a state of collapsing on itself. But that kind of constant pressure on its core also produces energy that radiates outward. The result is a perfect balance of inward pull and outward radiation.

我们今天看到的所有恒星都遵循相同的核聚变一般规律。恒星的绝对质量意味着它总是处于自身坍缩的状态。但是这种对其核心的恒定压力也会产生向外辐射的能量。其结果是内拉力和外辐射达到了完美的平衡。

Dark stars, on the other hand, do things a little differently.

另一方面，暗星的作用有点不同。

Even as a microscopic ingredient in a star's makeup, dark matter could keep a body huffing and puffing for a billion years thanks to a unique process called dark matter annihilation.

即使是作为恒星构成中的一种微观成分，由于一种被称为暗物质湮灭的独特过程，暗物质也能让一个身体持续不断地膨胀10亿年。

Essentially, dark matter gives a dark star its superpowers — it could expand and radiate energy without having to rely on that delicate dance known as nuclear fusion. That would also unburden a dark star from its core, allowing it to sprawl outward and, shine much brighter and bigger.

从本质上讲，暗物质赋予了一颗暗星超能力——它可以膨胀并辐射能量，而不需要依赖被称为核聚变的微妙舞蹈。这也将从它的核心释放出一颗暗星，让它向外扩张，发出的光更亮、更大。

A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful space observatory ever created. (Photo: Chris Gunn/NASA)

Scheduled for a March 2021 launch, the space-borne eye will be "the biggest, most powerful telescope ever to be put in space."

“天眼”计划于2021年3月发射，它将是“有史以来送入太空的体型最大、功能最强大的望远镜”。

While astronomers are rightly excited about the prospect of countless new planet discoveries, the telescope may also finally catch a glimpse of that most elusive and ancient celestial body known as a dark star.

虽然天文学家对无数颗新行星的发现前景感到兴奋不已，但这台望远镜或许最终也能瞥见最难以捉摸、最古老的天体——暗星。

"If a dark star of a million solar masses were found [by James Webb] from very early on, it's pretty clear that such an object would end up as a big black hole," Freese says. "Then these could merge together to make supermassive black holes. A very reasonable scenario!"

弗雷斯说:“如果(詹姆斯·韦伯)在很早的时候就发现了一颗质量是太阳质量100万倍的暗恒星，那么很明显，这样一个物体最终会变成一个大黑洞。然后它们会融合在一起形成超大质量的黑洞。一个非常合理的方案!”