Inside the black hole image that made history | Sheperd Doeleman

翻译人员: Buyun Ping 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Chris Anderson: Shep, thank you so much for coming.

克里斯·安德森： 谢普，感谢你的到来。

我听说你乘坐的航班 两个小时前刚到达温哥华。

I think your plane landed literally two hours ago in Vancouver.

Such a treat to have you.

非常高兴今天你能来这里。

So, talk us through how do you get from Einstein's equation to a black hole?

那么，给我们讲讲你是如何 从爱因斯坦方程式中提取黑洞信息的？

Sheperd Doeleman: Over 100 years ago,

谢博德·杜尔曼： 100多年前，

Einstein came up with this geometric theory of gravity

爱因斯坦提出了引力的几何理论，

which deforms space-time.

这个理论改变了时空。

So, matter deforms space-time,

所以，物质改变了时空，

and then space-time tells matter in turn how to move around it.

而时空反过来规定了物质的运行规律。

And you can get enough matter into a small enough region

你可以将足够多的物质 聚集到一个非常小的空间里

that it punctures space-time,

撞击时空，

and that even light can't escape,

即使是光也无法逃离，

the force of gravity keeps even light inside.

引力的作用会使得光困在里面。

安德森：在那之前， 地球之所以围绕太阳公转的理由

CA: And so, before that, the reason the Earth moves around the Sun

is not because the Sun is pulling the Earth as we think,

并不是我们以为的太阳吸引着地球，

but it's literally changed the shape of space

而是字面意义上的 太阳改变了宇宙的形状，

所以地球可以说是 正在向太阳靠近并公转。

so that we just sort of fall around the Sun.

SD: Exactly, the geometry of space-time

杜尔曼：没错，时空的几何结构

规定了地球围绕太阳公转的轨道。

tells the Earth how to move around the Sun.

You're almost seeing a black hole puncture through space-time,

你几乎能看到一个黑洞穿过时空，

and when it goes so deeply in,

当它进入很深的时候，

then there's a point at which light orbits the black hole.

在某个时刻光就会围绕黑洞运转。

CA: And so that's, I guess, is what's happening here.

安德森：我猜这就是 现在我们所看到的景象。

This is not an image,

这不是一张照片，

this is a computer simulation of what we always thought,

这是电脑模拟下我们所想象的

like, the event horizon around the black hole.

在黑洞周围的事件视界。

SD: Until last week, we had no idea what a black hole really looked like.

杜尔曼：直到上周，我们才 知道黑洞的真实样貌。

The best we could do were simulations like this in supercomputers,

我们所能做的就是用超级电脑 构建类似的模拟场景，

but even here you see this ring of light,

但即使是现在，你看到的这个光圈，

which is the orbit of photons.

其实是光子的运行轨道，

That's where photons literally move around the black hole,

它展现了光子围绕黑洞的运行轨道，

and around that is this hot gas that's drawn to the black hole,

在它的周围是高热气体，被拉近黑洞，

and it's hot because of friction.

它们之所以很热是因为摩擦。

All this gas is trying to get into a very small volume, so it heats up.

这些气体试图压缩体积， 所以它们的温度会上升。

安德森：几年前，你接受这项任务

CA: A few years ago, you embarked on this mission

to try and actually image one of these things.

来尝试并且、构想出这些东西的样子。

And I guess you took --

我猜——

you focused on this galaxy way out there.

你一直在研究宇宙中的这个星系。

Tell us about this galaxy.

给我们介绍一下这个星系吧。

SD: This is the galaxy --

杜尔曼：这就是我研究的星系。

we're going to zoom into the galaxy M87, it's 55 million light-years away.

我们现在要放大M87星系， 它距离我们5500万光年。

CA: Fifty-five million.

安德森：5500万。

SD: Which is a long way.

杜尔曼：距离非常远。

And at its heart,

在这个星系的中心，

there's a six-and-a-half-billion- solar-mass black hole.

有一个相当于65亿倍太阳质量的黑洞。

That's hard for us to really fathom, right?

对于我们而言很难 准确测量其质量，对吧？

Six and a half billion suns compressed into a single point.

65亿倍太阳质量的物质 压缩在这一点。

And it's governing some of the energetics of the center of this galaxy.

并且这个黑洞掌管着 这个星系中心的一部分能量。

CA: But even though that thing is so huge, because it's so far away,

安德森：虽然它这么大， 但因为它距离地球很远，

to actually dream of getting an image of it,

要想拍摄到它的照片，

that's incredibly hard.

这非常困难。

The resolution would be incredible that you need.

分辨率要求之高令人难以想象。

杜尔曼：黑洞是宇宙中 已知的最小的物质。

SD: Black holes are the smallest objects in the known universe.

But they have these outsize effects on whole galaxies.

但它们对于星系整体而言 有着巨大的影响。

But to see one,

想要看到它，

you would need to build a telescope as large as the Earth,

你需要一个像地球那么大的望远镜，

因为我们正在观察的这个黑洞

because the black hole that we're looking at

会发出大量的无线电波。

gives off copious radio waves.

It's emitting all the time.

它无时无刻不在发出这些电波。

CA: And that's exactly what you did.

安德森：这就是你所做的事。

SD: Exactly. What you're seeing here

杜尔曼：没错。你现在所看到的

is we used telescopes all around the world,

是我们部署在全球的望远镜，

we synchronized them perfectly with atomic clocks,

我们让它们与原子钟完美同步，

so they received the light waves from this black hole,

让它们接收黑洞发出的光波，

and then we stitched all of that data together to make an image.

然后我们将所有数据 拼接在一起组成黑洞的照片。

CA: To do that

安德森：为了达成这个目标，

the weather had to be right

所有望远镜所在地的天气状况

in all of those locations at the same time,

都必须达到一定条件，

so you could actually get a clear view.

这样你们才能有清晰的视角。

SD: We had to get lucky in a lot of different ways.

杜尔曼：在很多方面 我们都需要幸运的眷顾。

And sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

有时，运气比正确操作更重要。

In this case, we were both, I like to think.

我认为这一次，我们不但 操作正确，运气也很好。

But light had to come from the black hole.

但我们需要接收来自黑洞的光线。

It had to come through intergalactic space,

它必须穿过星际空间。

through the Earth's atmosphere, where water vapor can absorb it,

穿过地球的大气层， 中途还有可能被水蒸气吸收，

and everything worked out perfectly,

但一切都非常完美。

the size of the Earth at that wavelength of light,

地球的大小，

在波长一毫米的光线下，

one millimeter wavelength,

was just right to resolve that black hole, 55 million light-years away.

正好能够展现5500万光年外 那个黑洞的样子。

The universe was telling us what to do.

宇宙正在告诉我们应该做什么。

CA: So you started capturing huge amounts of data.

安德森：所以你们开始收集海量的数据。

I think this is like half the data from just one telescope.

这些只是其中一台 望远镜所收集的数据的一半？

SD: Yeah, this is one of the members of our team, Lindy Blackburn,

杜尔曼：是的，这是 我们小组的一员，林迪·布莱克本，

在他旁边的是

and he's sitting with half the data

大型毫米波望远镜 记录下的一半的数据，

recorded at the Large Millimeter Telescope,

which is atop a 15,000-foot mountain in Mexico.

这架望远镜位于墨西哥 一座近5000米高的山上。

And what he's holding there is about half a petabyte.

他手上拿着的数据 大约有拍字节的一半。

Which, to put it in terms that we might understand,

用易于想象的东西来比喻的话，

it's about 5,000 people's lifetime selfie budget.

大约能存放5千人一辈子的自拍照。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

CA: It's a lot of data.

安德森：数据非常多。

So this was all shipped, you couldn't send this over the internet.

所以只能通过线下运输， 你们没办法在互联网上传输。

All this data was shipped to one place

所有的数据都被运送到一个地方，

and the massive computer effort began to try and analyze it.

然后计算机开始解析这些数据。

当时你并不知道

And you didn't really know

what you were going to see coming out of this.

最终的结果是什么样的。

杜尔曼：我们是这么工作的。

SD: The way this technique works that we used --

imagine taking an optical mirror and smashing it

想象打碎一面镜子，

and putting all the shards in different places.

然后把所有的碎片四散开来。

The way a normal mirror works

普通镜子的工作原理

is the light rays bounce off the surface, which is perfect,

是通过镜面反射，

and they focus in a certain point at the same time.

所有的光在同时聚焦在某个特定的点。

We take all these recordings,

我们有了所有的数据，

and with atomic clock precision

在原子钟精度的帮助下，

we align them perfectly, later in a supercomputer.

我们将这些数据准确输入超级计算机。

And we recreate kind of an Earth-sized lens.

然后我们重构了一个地球大小的透镜。

And the only way to do that is to bring the data back by plane.

只能通过飞机运送数据。

You can't beat the bandwidth of a 747 filled with hard discs.

没有哪个网络比一架满载硬盘的 波音747飞机更快的了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

CA: And so, I guess a few weeks or a few months ago,

安德森：那么我猜，在几周或几个月前，

on a computer screen somewhere,

在某地一台电脑的显示器上，

this started to come into view.

黑洞的形象在那一刻

This moment.

渐渐成形。

SD: Well, it took a long time.

杜尔曼：嗯，这花了好一会儿工夫。

CA: I mean, look at this.

安德森：看看这张照片。

That was it.

这就是黑洞。

这就是黑洞的第一张照片。

That was the first image.

(Applause)

（掌声）

So tell us what we're really looking at there.

给我们介绍一下这张照片吧。

SD: I still love it.

杜尔曼：我依然非常喜欢这张照片。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So what you're seeing is that last orbit of photons.

现在你所看到的是 光子最后一次运动的轨迹。

You're seeing Einstein's geometry laid bare.

爱因斯坦的几何学说 彻底展现在你们眼前。

The puncture in space-time is so deep

这次对时空的撞击之深，

that light moves around in orbit,

使得光子在轨道上绕圈，

so that light behind the black hole, as I think we'll see soon,

这样黑洞身后的光，我觉得 我们马上就可以看到它了，

moves around and comes to us on these parallel lines

就会绕圈，并且在 这个轨道上的平行光线

at exactly that orbit.

马上就会来到我们这里。

It turns out, that orbit is the square root of 27

事实上，这个轨道是27的平方根，

times just a handful of fundamental constants.

与一些基本常数相乘。

It's extraordinary when you think about it.

如果你认真思考，就会发现它非常奇妙。

CA: When ...

安德森：当...

In my head, initially, when I thought of black holes,

在我脑海里，我最初认为

I'm thinking that is the event horizon,

黑洞就是一个事件视界。

there's lots of matter and light whirling around in that shape.

有许多物质和光线围绕着它转。

But it's actually more complicated than that.

但事实远比我想象的要复杂。

Well, talk us through this animation, because it's light being lensed around it.

给我们解释一下这个动画， 它展现了光正在透过这个黑洞。

SD: You'll see here that some light from behind it gets lensed,

杜尔曼：你现在看到的是 在黑洞后面的一些光透过它，

and some light does a loop-the-loop around the entire orbit of the black hole.

有些光的确会一直绕着黑洞转。

But when you get enough light

但如果光足够多，

它们来自黑洞周围的高温气体中，

from all this hot gas swirling around the black hole,

then you wind up seeing all of these light rays

那么最终你将看到这些光线

come together on this screen,

以屏幕上所呈现的方式聚集在一起，

which is a stand-in for where you and I are.

就像你和我现在站在台上一样。

And you see the definition of this ring begin to come into shape.

然后你会发现这个环逐渐成型。

And that's what Einstein predicted over 100 years ago.

这就是爱因斯坦 在百年前所预测的事情。

CA: Yeah, that is amazing.

安德森：这真是令人吃惊。

So tell us more about what we're actually looking at here.

现在，能不能再解释一下这张图片？

First of all, why is part of it brighter than the rest?

首先，为什么有些地方 比其他地方更亮呢？

SD: So what's happening is that the black hole is spinning.

杜尔曼：事实上这个黑洞正在旋转。

And you wind up with some of the gas moving towards us below

最终靠近地球的气体运动到了下方，

and receding from us on the top.

而远离地球的气体运动到了上方。

And just as the train whistle has a higher pitch

正如火车的鸣笛，当它靠近你的时候，

when it's coming towards you,

音高会增高，

there's more energy from the gas coming towards us than going away from us.

比起远离地球的气体， 靠近的气体蕴含很多能量，

You see the bottom part brighter

你可以看到下方更亮一点

because the light is actually being boosted in our direction.

是因为下方光线正加速向我们靠近。

CA: And how physically big is that?

安德森：这个黑洞有多大？

SD: Our entire solar system would fit well within that dark region.

杜尔曼：它能容下我们整个太阳系。

并且，我想打断你一下，

And if I may,

这个黑暗区域标志了事件视界。

that dark region is the signature of the event horizon.

The reason we don't see light from there,

我们之所以无法看到里面的光，

是因为这里面朝地球靠近的光

is that the light that would come to us from that place

was swallowed by the event horizon.

已经被事件视界吞噬了。

So that -- that's it.

这就是黑洞。

CA: And so when we think of a black hole,

安德森：所以，当我们 谈起黑洞的时候，

you think of these huge rays jetting out of it,

你想说的是它向外发射的射线，

which are pointed directly in our direction.

它们朝我们而来。

Why don't we see them?

为什么我们看不见他们呢？

SD: This is a very powerful black hole.

杜尔曼：这是一个强有力的黑洞。

Not by universal standards, it's still powerful,

虽然不是公认的，但它依然非常强大，

在这个黑洞的北极和南极，

and from the north and south poles of this black hole

we think that jets are coming.

我们认为射线正从这两段过来。

Now, we're too close to really see all the jet structure,

我们距离太近， 所以无法看到这些射线的结构，

但这些射线能够展示时空的样子，

but it's the base of those jets that are illuminating the space-time.

And that's what's being bent around the black hole.

同时也能展现在黑洞周围 空间扭曲的状况。

CA: And if you were in a spaceship whirling around that thing somehow,

安德森：如果某天你在一架太空飞船上， 正在绕这这个东西飞行，

how long would it take to actually go around it?

绕场一周需要多久呢？

SD: First, I would give anything to be in that spaceship.

杜尔曼：首先，我愿意付出一切代价 登上那艘太空飞船。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Sign me up.

帮我抢一个位置。

There’s something called the -- if I can get wonky for one moment --

让我想一下，有一个东西叫做

the innermost stable circular orbit,

最内侧稳定圆形轨道，

that's the innermost orbit at which matter can move around a black hole

这是轨道最内侧，物质在 这个轨道上绕着黑洞运行，

before it spirals in.

之后它们会旋转入黑洞。

And for this black hole, it's going to be between three days and about a month.

对于这个黑洞而言， 这个过程大约会持续三天到一个月。

CA: It's so powerful, it's weirdly slow at one level.

安德森：它的力量这么强大， 我甚至觉得这个过程有点慢。

I mean, you wouldn't even notice

我的意思是，如果你在场， 你甚至不会注意到

falling into that event horizon if you were there.

自己进入这个事件视界。

SD: So you may have heard of "spaghettification,"

杜尔曼：你可能听说过 一个词叫“面条化”，

当你掉入一个黑洞的时候，

where you fall into a black hole

and the gravitational field on your feet is much stronger than on your head,

你的脚所受的引力场 远大于你的头所受的引力场，

so you're ripped apart.

所以你就会被拉扯破碎。

This black hole is so big

这个黑洞太大了，

你甚至来不及变成意大利面那么长。

that you're not going to become a spaghetti noodle.

You're just going to drift right through that event horizon.

你会直接掉入那个事件视界。

CA: So, it's like a giant tornado.

安德森：这就像一个巨大的龙卷风。

When Dorothy was whipped by a tornado, she ended up in Oz.

当桃乐丝被卷入龙卷风的时候， 她最后到了奥兹国。

Where do you end up if you fall into a black hole?

如果你掉入黑洞，最后你会到哪儿？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

SD: Vancouver.

杜尔曼：温哥华。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

CA: Oh, my God.

安德森：天呐。

(Applause)

（掌声）

It's the red circle, that's terrifying.

这个红色的圈太吓人了。

No, really.

你在开玩笑。

SD: Black holes really are the central mystery of our age,

杜尔曼：黑洞可谓是 我们这个时代的中心之谜。

because that's where the quantum world and the gravitational world come together.

因为它是量子世界与引力世界的交合点。

黑洞的中心是一个奇点。

What's inside is a singularity.

And that's where all the forces become unified,

在这里所有的力都会趋于统一，

because gravity finally is strong enough to compete with all the other forces.

因为引力是如此之大， 其他力无法与之抗衡。

But it's hidden from us,

但它隐藏了起来，

the universe has cloaked it in the ultimate invisibility cloak.

宇宙用终极隐形斗篷把它遮掩了起来。

So we don't know what happens in there.

所以我们不知道在那里面 究竟发生了什么。

CA: So there's a smaller one of these in our own galaxy.

安德森：所以在我们的星系中 有一个较小的黑洞。

Can we go back to our own beautiful galaxy?

可以回到我们自己美丽的星系吗？

This is the Milky Way, this is home.

这是银河，是我们的家。

And somewhere in the middle of that there's another one,

而在银河的某个地方， 存在着另外一个黑洞，

你正在努力把它找出来。

which you're trying to find as well.

杜尔曼：我们已经发现了它的存在， 也已经采集到了它的数据。

SD: We already know it's there, and we've already taken data on it.

我们现在就在研究这些数据，

And we're working on those data right now.

希望在将来能够研究出结果， 虽然我不敢对时间打包票。

So we hope to have something in the near future, I can't say when.

CA: It's way closer but also a lot smaller,

安德森：这个黑洞距离较近，但体积较小，

maybe the similar kind of size to what we saw?

也许和我们现在看到的这个差不多大？

SD: Right. So it turns out that the black hole in M87,

杜尔曼：是的。事实证明 M87星系中的黑洞，

that we saw before,

就是我们之前看到的那个，

is six and a half billion solar masses.

重达65亿太阳的质量。

But it's so far away that it appears a certain size.

但由于它距离太远了，所以看起来很小。

我们星系里的这个黑洞比它小一千倍，

The black hole in the center of our galaxy is a thousand times less massive,

but also a thousand times closer.

但也比它近一千倍。

So it looks the same angular size on the sky.

所以它们两个在空中 看起来差不多大小。

安德森：最后，我猜， 我们要认识一下一群了不起的人。

CA: Finally, I guess, a nod to a remarkable group of people.

Who are these guys?

他们是谁？

SD: So these are only some of the team.

杜尔曼：这些仅是我们小组的部分成员。

We marveled at the resonance that this image has had.

我们惊叹于这张照片所引起的反响。

If you told me that it would be above the fold in all of these newspapers,

如果在过去你告诉我 这张照片会占据所有报纸的头条，

I'm not sure I would have believed you, but it was.

我觉得我可能不会相信你， 但事实就是如此。

因为这是一项非常重大的谜题，

Because this is a great mystery,

and it's inspiring for us, and I hope it's inspiring to everyone.

它激励着我们，我希望 它也能激励其他所有人。

But the more important thing is that this is just a small number of the team.

但更重要的是，这只是 我们团队的一小部分人。

We're 200 people strong with 60 institutes

我们一共有200人，分别来自60个机构、

and 20 countries and regions.

20个国家和地区。

If you want to build a global telescope you need a global team.

如果你想建造一个国际望远镜， 你就需要一个国际团队。

And this technique that we use of linking telescopes around the world

我们用来连接全球望远镜的这项技术

kind of effortlessly sidesteps some of the issues that divide us.

轻松地帮助我们回避了 一些可能会导致我们分裂的问题。

And as scientists, we naturally come together to do something like this.

作为科学家，我们自然而然地 聚集在了一起，来完成类似的任务。

CA: Wow, boy, that's inspiring for our whole team this week.

安德森：哦天呐，这对于 我们所有人都有教育意义。

Shep, thank you so much for what you did and for coming here.

谢普，非常感谢你所做的一切， 同时感谢你今天来参加这个活动。

杜尔曼：谢谢。

SD: Thank you.

（掌声）

(Applause)