60秒科学:Black Hole Quasar Building Galaxy

Black Hole Quasar Building Galaxy¹
A study in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics finds that a distant quasar, powered by a black hole, is building a galaxy that will eventually surround the black hole. Cynthia Graber reports

Which came first, black holes or galaxies²? It’s been a bit of a conundrum³ for astrophysicists. Black holes are known to devour⁴ matter, but did they arise before or after, the galaxies in which they exist? Now, scientists say it looks like the black holes build their own galaxies. The research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Scientists were checking out a quasar, an incredibly distant, incredibly bright object. This quasar was the only one without a known host galaxy. Researchers thought the galaxy must be hidden behind some dust. But they didn’t find one. What they did find is a nearby galaxy that’s producing stars at a rapid pace—the equivalent of about 350 suns per year, a hundred times faster than typical galaxies.

Scientists observed that the quasar is shooting out highly energetic particles and fast-moving gas in the direction of the galaxy. It looks as if that’s inducing the creation of those stars. So the galaxy will keep growing until it envelops⁵ the quasar itself. The researchers conclude that galaxies may thus be formed by clouds of gas that are bombarded by streams of matter and energy from black holes—which are building their own homes.
 

1 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。

2 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

3 conundrum   

n.谜语；难题

参考例句：

• Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
• Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。

4 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

5 envelops   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He glued many envelops yesterday. 他昨天用胶粘了许多信封。 来自辞典例句
• Ask your friends or mother and father to save used envelops for you. 让你的朋友或父母为你留下用过的信封。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）