New Information Adds to Understanding of Black Holes
未知黑洞增添新信息
The human eye is unable to see black holes in space. But telescopes with special tools can help find black holes by seeing how they affect nearby stars.
人类的肉眼是不能够看见太空中的黑洞的。但是，带有特殊工具的望远镜能够帮助发现黑洞，并观测他们是如何影响周围行星的。
In February, the Japanese space agency sent its Astro-H satellite into orbit around the Earth. The satellite’s job was to examine large structures in space, like huge black holes that exist at the center of most galaxies.
今年二月份，日本宇航局发射Astro-H号卫星进入地球附近轨道。该卫星的工作是检测太空中的大结构，例如存在于银河中央的巨大黑洞。
Galaxies are large groups of stars. Scientists estimate there are between 100 and 200 billion galaxies in the universe.
银河是由庞大的星系组成的。科学家估计大概有一千亿到二千亿银河存在于宇宙中。
The Astro-H satellite fell apart after only a month in space. But in that short time, Astro-H was able to gather important information. It sent back data about the Perseus cluster – a grouping of galaxies in the star constellation Perseus. The Perseus cluster is home to hundreds of galaxies. They are 240 million light years from Earth.
Astro-H卫星仅仅用了一个月就在太空中分离了。但是，在这短时间里，Astro-H能够收集重要的信息。它发射回关于英仙座星团的数据---一组英仙座的星团。英仙座是成百星系的家。他们距离地球2400万光年。
What are black holes?
什么是黑洞?
Black holes are areas where the pull of gravity is so strong that not even light can escape. Usually they happen after very big, supergiant stars explode. The exploded star turns into something called a “supernova.” It is very bright, but short-lived. Supernovas create the largest explosions in space.
黑洞是一块因重力太强烈以至于光不能够逃脱出来的区域。通常发生在非常巨大的超大星爆炸之后。该爆炸的行星变成某种东西，我们称作“超新星”。它非常的明亮，但是存活期短。超新星在太空中产生巨大的爆炸。
The material remaining after the supernova explosion collapses. Gravity pulls, or crushes, all the matter into a very small space. When light can no longer escape that space, it is known as a black hole.
该物质存在于超新星爆炸后的残骸中。重力拉伸或者是挤压，所有的物质挤进一个非常小的空间里。光再也不能从空间里逃脱出来，这就是黑洞。
The Japanese satellite Astro-H was carrying an instrument called an X-ray spectrometer. It was able to measure the way gas flows at the center of the Perseus cluster.
日本Astro-H卫星携带一种叫做X射线 分光仪工具。它能够测量在英仙座周围的大气是如何流动的。
What it found was that the superheated gas at the center of the cluster flowed more calmly than researchers expected. And that told them something about how black holes work, and how galaxies are formed.
他们发现在英仙座周围过热的大气平静的流动，比研究人员预测的平静。并且它告知黑洞是如何工作的，星系是如何形成的。
Brian McNamara is an astrophysicist with the University of Waterloo in Canada.
布莱恩·麦克纳马拉是加拿大滑铁卢大学的天体物理学家。
"And that gives us a very precise measurement of how much energy is being pumped into this gas by supermassive black holes, and so it allows us to form a more complete picture of how galaxies evolve, how the stars and the gas that will eventually cool out like rain to form the stars, evolves over cosmic time."
“并且它给了我们一个非常精确的测量，吸入该大气特大质量的黑洞需要多少能量，并且它允许我们去形成更多的完整的行星是如何发展的相关影像，行星和大气最终是如何在宇宙时间里冷却成为流星雨”
The scientists are also looking at the hot plasma — another kind of matter — and gases that surround galaxies.
科学家也能够观测热的等离子体---另一种物质---银河系周围的气体。
"This is gas that has not cooled out and condensed out like rain in our atmosphere to form stars, planets, life, for example. So it's the potential for the future, and we're trying to understand what the future destiny of this galaxy and many other galaxies would be."
这种气体不能够冷却和像雨一样在我们的大气中浓缩成行星，星球，生命。未来，是很有潜能的，并且我们试着去理解该星系的命运和许多其他行星将成为什么。
McNamara says that supermassive black holes may change how galaxies form and change over time.
麦克纳马拉说：“特大质量的黑洞或许改变星系在这段时间里的形成和改变”
“The energy released by these giant black holes is very tightly coupled to these atmospheres, which is the stuff out of which future stars will form.”
“能量紧密结合大气通过巨大的黑洞释放，也是未来星星形成的材料”
And what that means, he says, is that these huge black holes can affect the rate at which a galaxy grows.
这意味着什么呢?他说，巨大的黑洞能够影响星系成长的速度。
I’m Anne Ball.
安妮 波尔报道。
