美国国家公共电台 NPR--The black hole in the center of the Milky Way galaxy is captured in an image

The black hole in the center of the Milky¹ Way galaxy² is captured in an image

Transcript³

An image of what looks like a glowing orange donut is actually the first picture of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, our home galaxy.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

On social media lately, have you seen that picture, what looks like a fuzzy, orange doughnut? It's an image that astronomers⁴ are celebrating over. It's the massive supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce has more.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE⁵: Astronomers have long known that something weird⁶ lurks⁷ at the heart of the Milky Way. There, the stars whiz about, apparently⁸ influenced by the gravity of some giant, a mystery object 4 million times more massive than our sun. It seemed like a black hole. And scientists now have an image that proves it.

KATIE BOUMAN: I think it's just super exciting. I mean, what's more cool than seeing the black hole in the center of our own Milky Way?

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Katie Bouman of Caltech is part of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration⁹, a team of hundreds of scientists around the world working with radio telescopes to peer at the center of our galaxy. What they got was a picture showing a blurry¹⁰, orange ring. There's hot gases swirling¹¹ around a darkness that contains the unseeable black hole, which, of course, swallows everything around it, including light. But it looks like this black hole is a slow eater. Michael Johnson works at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard-Smithsonian. He says, if this black hole was a person...

MICHAEL JOHNSON: It would consume a single grain of rice every million years.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: One researcher who spent decades studying this black hole is Feryal Ozel of the University of Arizona. At a press conference, she said it had always felt sort of like having a remote virtual friend.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FERYAL OZEL: I kind of had a idea in my head about what it looked like. We were online chatting. And then I was like - oh, you're real, huh? - meeting in person. So it's a very nice feeling.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: A few years ago, this team captured a similar image of a different black hole. That one was much more massive and in a distant galaxy. The researchers say they now want to switch from taking just still images to making movies of black holes in action.

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

1 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

2 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

7 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

10 blurry   

adj.模糊的；污脏的，污斑的

参考例句：

• My blurry vision makes it hard to drive. 我的视力有点模糊，使得开起车来相当吃力。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The lines are pretty blurry at this point. 界线在这个时候是很模糊的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句