保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
在NASA的一部新的可视化影片中，一对质量为太阳几百万倍的轨道黑洞进行了催眠式的表演。这部影片描绘了黑洞是如何扭曲和重定向围绕在每个黑洞的热气体漩涡（称为吸积盘）发出的光。 从轨道平面附近看，每个吸积盘都呈现出特有的双峰状。但是，当一个黑洞从另一个黑洞前面经过时，前景黑洞的引力将另一个黑洞转变为快速变化的弧形序列。当来自两个吸积盘的光线在黑洞附近纠结的空间和时间结构中穿行时，这些扭曲就会发生。 探索两个环绕超大质量黑洞的极端引力如何扭曲我们的视野。在这个可视化图中，明亮、炽热、搅动的气体盘环绕着两个黑洞，用红色和蓝色显示，以便更好地追踪光源。红色吸积盘围绕着较大的黑洞运行，它的重量是我们太阳质量的2亿倍，而它较小的蓝色黑洞的质量只有红色黑洞的一半。放大每一个黑洞，就能看到另一个黑洞的多个越来越扭曲的图像。观看视...
Credits: NASA/GSFC/SVS/M.Subbarao & NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Jubett 2019年4月，科学家们使用事件视界望远镜(EHT)发布了第一张M87星系黑洞的图像。然而，这一非凡的成就仅仅是科学故事的开始。 来自19个天文台的数据即将公布，这些数据有望让人们对这个黑洞及其驱动的系统有前所未有的了解，并改善对爱因斯坦广义相对论的检验。 “我们知道，第一张黑洞的直接图像将是突破性的，”日本国家天文台(National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)的哈达和弘(Kazuhiro Hada)说，他是一项新研究的合著者，该研究发表在《天体物理学杂志通讯》(Astrophysical Journal Letters)上，描述了这一庞大的数据...
2021年04月15日 The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Explanation: Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to the supermassive black hole captured by planet Earth’s Event Horizon Telescope in the first ever image of a black hole. Giant of the Virgo galaxy cluster about ...
ASA的南希·格蕾丝·罗曼太空望远镜将于本世纪20年代中期发射升空，届时它将为红外宇宙提供一个前所未有的窗口。该任务计划中的一项调查将利用引力的奇特之处来揭示太阳系以外的数千颗新行星。同样的调查还将提供迄今为止最好的机会，首次明确探测到孤零零的小黑洞。当一颗质量超过20个太阳的恒星耗尽其核心的核燃料，并在自身重量的作用下坍塌时，这些天体就被称为恒星质量黑洞。 黑洞具有强大的引力，连光都无法逃脱它们的魔爪。由于黑洞看不见，我们只能通过观察它们对周围环境的影响，间接地找到黑洞。在星系中心发现的超大质量黑洞，其质量是太阳的几百万倍，它们会扰乱附近恒星的轨道，偶尔还会将它们撕碎，造成可见的后果。 但天文学家认为，绝大多数恒星质量的黑洞要轻得多，它们周围没有任何东西可以提示我们它们的存在。罗曼望远镜将通过观察行星的引力如...
In April 2019, a black hole and its shadow were captured in an image for the first time, a historic feat by an international network of radio telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). EHT is an international collaboration whose support in the U.S. includes the National Science Foundation. A black hole is an extremely dense object from which no lig...
2021年04月11日 When Black Holes Collide Video Credit & Copyright: Simulating Extreme Spacetimes Collaboration Explanation: What happens when two black holes collide? This extreme scenario occurs in the centers of many merging galaxies and multiple star systems. The featured video shows a computer animation of the final stages of such a merger, while highli...
2021年04月09日 Messier 106 Image Credit: NASA, Hubble Legacy Archive, Kitt Peak National Observatory; Amateur Data & Processing Copyright: Robert Gendler Explanation: Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mech...
This 2003 composite X-ray (blue and green) and optical (red) image of the active galaxy, NGC 1068, shows gas blowing away in a high-speed wind from the vicinity of a central supermassive black hole. Regions of intense star formation in the inner spiral arms of the galaxy are highlighted by both optical and X-ray emission. The elongated shape of the gas cloud...
Despite searching with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have no evidence that a distant black hole estimated to weigh between 3 billion and 100 billion times the mass of the Sun is anywhere to be found. This missing black hole should be in the enormous galaxy in the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261, which ...
2021年01月08日 NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby, Leonardo Orazi Explanation: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax C...