Supermassive Black Holes 超大质量黑洞 - 3

A supermassive black hole is quite simply gravity gone mad. An object of such concentrated matter its gravitational pull is insatiable. Nothing can escape it, not even light itself. Anything that gets close- gas, stars and entire solar systems are sucked into oblivion. It even destroys the very fabric¹ of the universe. If you think of the universe as a space-time web, the gravity of ordinary stars and planets creates a dent² in this web. But the immense gravity of a supermassive black hole is so destructive that it distorts spacetime to breaking point.

At the heart of a supermassive black hole is one of the most mysterious things in physics-the singularity(奇点), a point where space, time and all known laws of physics fall apart.

What happens at the center of the singularity is a complete mystery. And solving it is going to require new physics that we just don't have right now. Some people think you can fall through the singularity and pop out in another part of the universe. The theories for the singularity are, some of them are very, very radical³. We just don't know.

Supermassive black holes are so bizarre that until recently many scientists doubted they existed at all. They were an extreme idea dreamt up to explain a very rare and distant type of galaxy⁴: active galaxies⁵. These are amongst the brightest objects in the universe. These galaxies have a brilliant burning core with vast jets of energy spurting⁶ out of the center.

oblivion: destruction, extinction

space-time: the four-dimensional continuum in which all objects are located and all events occur, viewed as a single and continuous framework for existence. Space-time consists of length, width, depth, and time.

singularity: Astrophysics. A point in space-time at which gravitational forces cause matter to have infinite density⁷ and infinitesimal volume, and space and time to become infinitely⁸ distorted

an active galaxy is a galaxy where a significant fraction of the energy output is not emitted by the normal components⁹ of a galaxy: stars, dust and interstellar gas. This energy, depending on the active galaxy type, can be emitted across most of the electromagnetic spectrum¹⁰, as infrared¹¹, radio waves, Ultra Violet, X-ray and gamma rays.

1 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

2 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 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。

5 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。

6 spurting   

（液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的现在分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺； 溅射

参考例句：

• Blood was spurting from her nose. 血从她鼻子里汩汩流出来。
• The volcano was spurting out rivers of molten lava. 火山喷涌着熔岩。

7 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

8 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

9 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

10 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

11 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。