美国国家航空航天局向我们展示了一个超大质量的黑洞

美国国家航空航天局向我们展示了一个超大质量的黑洞

Do you remember what you were doing the day NASA revealed the first-ever image of a black hole?

你还记得美国国家航空航天局(NASA)公布第一张黑洞图像的那天你在做什么吗?

The black hole's extreme gravity alters the paths of light coming from different parts of the disk, producing the warped image. (Photo: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman)

Probably what you're doing right now: Staring at a screen and wondering what all the fuss is about.

也许你现在正在做的是:盯着屏幕，不知道这到底是怎么回事。

Sure, the ingenuity and technical prowess needed to image M87* — a supermassive black hole more than 55 million light-years away — was extraordinary.

当然，拍摄M87*——一个5500万光年外的超大质量黑洞——所需要的独创性和技术力量是非同寻常的。

The first-ever image of the event horizon surrounding a distant black hole. (Photo: National Science Foundation)

But the picture itself? Let's be honest, that black hole wasn't about to suck the breath right out of our bodies. It might as well have been rendered by the first Nintendo Entertainment System.

但是照片本身呢?说实话，那个黑洞不会直接把我们的呼吸吸出去。它很可能是由第一个任天堂娱乐系统渲染的。

Of course, technology will evolve and help us take much higher resolution photographs of what has for so long seemed un-photographable. In fact, the Event Horizon Telescope — instrumental in capturing M87* — is just getting started on its black hole photo album.

当然，技术会不断发展，帮助我们拍出高分辨率的照片，而长期以来，这些照片似乎是不可拍照的。事实上，用于捕捉M87*的视界望远镜才刚刚开始拍摄它的黑洞相册。

In the meantime, NASA has unveiled a simulation that's equal parts breath-catcher ... and mind-bender.

与此同时，美国国家航空航天局公布了一种模拟装置，它的各个部分都是吸气器和思想盛宴。

The top image is what an active supermassive black hole could look like when technology and imaging techniques take another bold leap forward and serve up the farthest reaches of the universe in brilliant high-resolution.

上图是一个活跃的超大质量黑洞的样子，当技术和成像技术又一次大胆的飞跃，以极高的分辨率服务于宇宙最远的地方。

It's also what happens when we give gravity a paintbrush. See how the light swirls around the event horizon like a psychedelic Saturnian ring? That's the photon ring, where light can travel endlessly round and round the black hole's mouth.

这也是当我们给重力一个画笔时所发生的。看到光如何像一个迷幻的土星环一样绕着视界旋转了吗?这就是光子环，在这里光可以无休止地绕着黑洞的嘴运动。

Then there's the broader splash of light surrounding the chasm. It originates from an area behind the black hole known as its accretion disc, but our perspective here is from the edge of the disk.

此外，裂缝周围还有更大范围的亮光。它起源于黑洞后面被称为吸积盘的区域，但我们在这里的视角是从吸积盘的边缘。

This image highlights and explains various aspects of the black hole visualization. (Photo: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman)

Note how the left side is brighter than the right? Again, that's a matter of perspective. The black hole is moving toward us, giving the light on one side a boost, while diminishing it on the other side. That phenomenon is known as relativistic beaming, or the Doppler effect.

注意左边比右边亮多少?这又是一个视角问题。黑洞正在向我们移动，一边给光一个推力，而另一边使光减弱。这种现象被称为相对论光束，或多普勒效应。

And everything we see is stretched and warped under gravity's inescapable heel.

我们所看到的一切都在重力不可避免的脚后跟下被拉伸和扭曲。

"Simulations and movies like these really help us visualize what Einstein meant when he said that gravity warps the fabric of space and time," notes Jeremy Schnittman, the NASA scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center who created the simulation. "Until very recently, these visualizations were limited to our imagination and computer programs. I never thought that it would be possible to see a real black hole."

戈达德航天飞行中心NASA科学家杰里米·施尼特曼(Jeremy Schnittman)指出:“像这样的模拟和电影真的能帮助我们形象地理解爱因斯坦所说的重力扭曲时空结构的意思。”“直到最近，这些可视化还仅限于我们的想象力和计算机程序。我从来没有想过有可能看到一个真正的黑洞。”

It all adds up to a mesmerizing portrait of a black hole — even if it can be a little technically exhausting.

所有这一切构成了一幅迷人的黑洞画像——即使它在技术上有点累人。

But worry not. As part of NASA's Black Hole Week, the agency also got refreshingly un-technical with a safety video for kids. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, the narrator cheerfully explains why a black hole is "absolutely not a good place to vacation."

但不用担心。作为NASA黑洞周的一部分，该机构还为孩子们制作了一段安全视频，让人耳目一新。叙述者把舌头牢牢地贴在脸颊上，愉快地解释为什么黑洞“绝对不是一个度假的好地方”。

For one thing, there's a good chance you won't be able to send postcards.

首先，你很有可能无法寄明信片。

"And if you get close enough," the narrator continues, "You now have to worry about being stretched into a giant noodle and time getting really weird."

“如果你离得足够近，”叙述者继续说，“你现在就得担心被拉长成一根巨大的面条，时间会变得非常奇怪。”

Then again, if you've got your fill of astrophysics for the day, the video itself may be the perfect vacation.

如果你对今天的天体物理学已经有了足够的了解，那么这个视频本身就是一个完美的假期。