探索发现:科学家发现天文史上惊现最年轻黑洞
Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found evidence of the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood. The 30-year-old black hole provides a unique opportunity to watch this type of object develop from infancy.
天文学家们用钱拉德用 x射线观测仪探测到了最年轻黑洞的蛛丝马迹*，它位于我们临近的星系里。这个仅30岁的年轻黑洞为科学家研究黑洞成长提供了得天独厚的条件。
The black hole could help scientists better understand how massive stars explode, which ones leave behind black holes or neutron stars, and the number of black holes in our galaxy and others.
该黑洞能帮助科学家解惑：大型恒星爆炸以后，它的产物到底是黑洞还是中子星；以及我们或其他银河系里到底有多少黑洞。
The 30-year-old object is a remnant of SN 1979C, a supernova in the galaxy M100 approximately 50 million light years from Earth. Data from Chandra, NASA's Swift satellite, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton and the German ROSAT observatory revealed a bright source of X-rays that has remained steady during observation from 1995 to 2007. This suggests the object is a black hole being fed either by material falling into it from the supernova or a binary companion.
这个30岁的物体*是SN 1979C 超新星爆炸以后的遗留物，它位于M100星系，距地球大约500万光年。NASA钱拉德和雨燕卫星*，欧洲天文中心的XMM-牛顿*以及德国的伦琴卫星*的观测，揭露出该物体自1995年到2007年间，持续发出强x射线。这显示该物体很可能是一个黑洞，正吸收超新星或是双子伴星上的物质。
"If our interpretation is correct, this is the nearest example where the birth of a black hole has been observed," said Daniel Patnaude of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. who led the study.
“如果我们的推断正确的话，这将是迄今为止观测到的距离地球最近的新生黑洞”。马萨诸萨州剑桥哈佛-史密森天体物理中心的该项目的领头人Daniel Patnaude表示。
The scientists think SN 1979C, first discovered by an amateur astronomer in 1979, formed when a star about 20 times more massive than the sun collapsed. Many new black holes in the distant universe previously have been detected in the form of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, SN 1979C is different because it is much closer and belongs to a class of supernovas unlikely to be associated with a GRB. Theory predicts most black holes in the universe should form when the core of a star collapses and a GRB is not produced.
SN 1979C是由一位业余天文爱好着于1979年首次发现，科学家认为它是由一颗质量比太阳大20倍的恒星坍塌后形成的。历史上也有很多宇宙深处的年轻黑洞因为伽马线暴（GRBs）而被发现。 但是SN 1979C独一无二的是它离我们非常近，而且本该归属于超新星范围，不应该产生伽马线暴。 理论上，黑洞大多由恒星核坍塌以后形成，应该不会产生伽马线暴。
"This may be the first time the common way of making a black hole has been observed," said co-author Abraham Loeb, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "However, it is very difficult to detect this type of black hole birth because decades of X-ray observations are needed to make the case."
“这大概是有史以来第一次发现一般黑洞的形成。”哈佛-史密森中心的合作研究者Abraham Loeb表示，“但是我们很难探测到这类黑洞的产生，至少要经过多年的x光观测才能产生定论。”
The idea of a black hole with an observed age of only about 30 years is consistent with recent theoretical work. In 2005, a theory was presented that the bright optical light of this supernova was powered by a jet from a black hole that was unable to penetrate the hydrogen envelope of the star to form a GRB. The results seen in the observations of SN 1979C fit this theory very well.
该新发现的黑洞只有30年历史与符合最新理论。在2005年，超新星的耀眼光芒来自于黑洞的喷射流，该黑洞喷射流不能穿透恒星的氢气包裹层形成伽马射线暴。 该观点在 SN 1979C身上得到了充分证明。
Although the evidence points to a newly formed black hole in SN 1979C, another intriguing possibility is that a young, rapidly spinning neutron star with a powerful wind of high energy particles could be responsible for the X-ray emission. This would make the object in SN 1979C the youngest and brightest example of such a "pulsar wind nebula" and the youngest known neutron star. The Crab pulsar, the best-known example of a bright pulsar wind nebula, is about 950 years old.
虽然证据显示SN 1979C 形成的是一个新兴黑洞，另外一个有趣的假设认为，它可能是一个年轻的，快速旋转的中子星，强大的波云风抛射出高能量粒子也可能产生强x射线。该假设总结出SN 1979C 中的物体为最年轻和最明亮的“脉冲波霎星云”和已知最年轻的中子星。蟹状星云是最为人所知的脉冲波霎星云，目前已有950岁了。
"It's very rewarding to see how the commitment of some of the most advanced telescopes in space, like Chandra, can help complete the story," said Jon Morse, head of the Astrophysics Division at NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
“钱拉德等非常先机的观测仪功不可没，是它们帮助我们完成了神话。” NASA任务指挥战的天文部长Jon Morse提起那些卫星的功劳就赞叹不已。
