美国国家公共电台 NPR A 4 Billion Light-Year Journey Ends At The South Pole

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Scientists announced today that for the first time, they have been able to pinpoint¹ the source of a particle called a high-energy neutrino. It was detected by an observatory² at the South Pole. And as NPR science correspondent Joe Palca reports, finding the source of this particle opens a whole new way of looking at the universe.

JOE PALCA, BYLINE³: At the South Pole, there's a sophisticated observatory designed to catch high-energy neutrinos, enigmatic particles produced by violent cosmic events like exploding stars. Neutrinos are sometimes called the ghost particle because they can travel virtually unimpeded across the universe. When a particularly powerful neutrino is captured, IceCube sends out an alert.

OLGA BOTNER: We had this neutrino alert in September 2017.

PALCA: Olga Botner is a particle physicist⁴ at Uppsala University in Sweden. I reached her via Skype. When the alert went out, a bevy⁵ of observatories⁶ on Earth and in space started searching the portion of the sky where the neutrino appeared to be coming from, looking for something that might have generated it. There had been other alerts, but each time, the search turned up empty. This time, as they report in the journal Science, telescopes saw a burst of energy coming from an object 4 billion light years from Earth called a blazar.

BOTNER: Blazars are very special objects. They are intensely bright galaxies⁷ harboring a black hole at the center.

PALCA: Botner says the black holes are spinning, and jets of energetic particles shoot out from the top and bottom, traveling at close to the speed of light.

BOTNER: And the nice thing about blazars is that one of these jets is pointing directly towards Earth.

PALCA: So 4 billion years ago, a jet from this blazar sent a neutrino zooming⁸ toward Earth, and that neutrino was captured at the South Pole last September.

KE FANG⁹: Those jets are a very interesting subject for astrophysicists...

PALCA: Ke Fang is an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland.

FANG: ...Because these are direct outputs from those black holes.

PALCA: Fang says the hope is more of these neutrinos will be detected, and that should give physicists¹⁰ more information about the physics that govern how black holes behave. In fact, now that they know it's possible, studying neutrinos given off by celestial¹¹ objects opens a whole new way of looking at the universe.

NAOKO KURAHASHI NEILSON: Astronomy started when people looked at the night sky, and that's light hitting your eyes.

PALCA: Naoko Kurahashi Neilson is an astrophysicist at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

NEILSON: It's expanded from just visible light to X-rays and gamma rays and also to infrared¹² and radio waves.

PALCA: But light waves and gamma rays and even radio waves are all what scientists call electromagnetic radiation. They differ in wavelength¹³, but they're all from the same family.

NEILSON: And then here comes neutrinos, which is a completely different way to look at the universe. And, gee¹⁴, I wonder what we can see if we use this whole different way to look at the universe.

PALCA: Of course scientists don't know what they'll find, but then that's the whole point, isn't it? Joe Palca, NPR News.

1 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

2 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

3 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。

4 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

5 bevy   

n.一群

参考例句：

• A bevy of bathing beauties appeared on the beach.沙滩上出现了一群游泳的美女。
• Look,there comes a bevy of ladies.看，一群女人来了。

6 observatories   

n.天文台，气象台( observatory的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• John Heilbron, The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories, 3-23. 约翰．海耳布隆，《教会里的太阳：教堂即太阳观测台》，第3-23页。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists use satellites, land observatories and historical data to provide information about the weather. 气象学家使用卫星、上天文台和历史资料来提供有关天气的信息。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 zooming   

adj.快速上升的v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去分词 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Zooming and panning are navigational tools for exploring 2D and 3D information. 缩放和平移是浏览二维和三维信息的导航工具。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Panning and zooming, especially when paired together, create navigation difficulties for users. 对于用户来说，平移和缩放一起使用时，产生了更多的导航困难。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

10 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

11 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

12 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

13 wavelength   

n.波长

参考例句：

• The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
• Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。

14 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！