评论
打印
They landed on a wavelength of 1.3 millimeters at the high frequency end of the radio spectrum.
他们锁定了无线电频谱高频端一个1.3毫米的波长。
With that wavelength and with eight observatories across the world,
有了这个波长，加上分布在世界各地的8个天文台，
the event horizon telescope had a chance at seeing a black hole, as long as the weather cooperated.
只要天气配合，事件视界望远镜就有机会观测到黑洞。
You have to have clear weather in all of those places at a time
地球刚好以所有那些望远镜都能同时观测到黑洞的形式转动，
when the Earth is oriented in such a way that all of those telescopes can see the black hole simultaneously.
每台望远镜所在的地方又刚好都有晴朗的天气才行。
They can really only observe once a year.
一年基本上只能观察一次。
There was so much data involved that it had to be flown on airplanes.
因为涉及的数据实在是太多了，所以必须用飞机来传送。
They waited six months for the hard drives to arrive from the South Pole, which closes during winter time.
等南极那边送来的硬盘就等了六个月，而南极的观测站在冬季是要关闭的。
This multi-telescope method is called “Very long baseline interferometry,”
这种使用多台望远镜观测的方法被称为“甚长基线干涉测量法，”
it correlates timestamped data from distant telescopes to boost the signal and quiet the noise.
它能将来自遥远望远镜的时间戳数据关联起来，在增强信号的同时消除信道噪声。
Each pairing of telescopes contributes a piece of the puzzle, but the image doesn't just pop out after that.
每对望远镜都能为完成拼图做出一定贡献，但完成了拼图并不意味着黑洞的照片就会自己浮现出来。
They had four groups working for months to generate the image that best represents the data.
四个小组花了好几个月的时间才做出了最能代表那些数据的图像。
Each group was working individually and like in isolation from the other groups, working with the same data,
每个小组都是独立工作的，就像和其他小组隔开了一样，
to see that each group came up with the same image or not.
但他们处理的都是同样的数据，为的是看他们是否会输出同样的图像。
And the result of all that work is this.
所有这些工作的结果就是这张图像。
The bright parts are the matter and lights swirling around the black hole
较亮的那部分是围绕黑洞旋转的物质和光，
and it's brighter on the side that's moving toward us.
而且朝我们移动的一边更亮。
And the dark part is the black hole's shadow,
较暗的那部分就是黑洞的阴影，
which includes the event horizon plus a region where light could escape, but doesn't.
这包括视界和光线本可以逃逸但还是没能逃逸的一个区域。
The size and shape of the shadow appear to confirm the theory of general relativity.
这片阴影的大小和形状似乎证实了广义相对论的正确性。
Today, general relativity has passed another crucial test, this one spanning from horizons to the stars.
今天，广义相对论又通过了另一个关键的考验，这次考验涉及的范围从地平线扩展到了恒星。
Humanity's first image of a black hole isn't crisp and beautiful like the illustrations or the movie Interstellar.
人类获得的首张黑洞图像并不像《星际穿越》漫画或电影里那么清晰，那么美丽。
It's better.
却比后者更好。
The picture we see this week is made of scraps and bits of light that's been traveling across the universe
我们这周看到的这张图像是那些碎片和光线穿越宇宙，
and collected by these, you know, aluminum dishes on top of mountaintops
被这些位于山顶上的大铝盘子收集起来，
and then combined in a supercomputer to make this image.
然后用一台超级计算机合成出来的图像。
So that's why it's real.
所以，它才是真的。
