黑洞为宇宙中最明亮的物体提供能量，那么为什么我们的宇宙如此平静呢?

黑洞为宇宙中最明亮的物体提供能量，那么为什么我们的宇宙如此平静呢?

Despite their reputation as all-consuming voids of darkness, it might come as a surprise to learn that black holes are responsible for the brightest known phenomena in the universe. This remarkable contrast is possible because of the violent forces that black holes generate, ripping apart all matter that approaches and turning gas clouds into searing beacons of light.

尽管黑洞被认为是吞噬一切的黑暗空间，但当我们得知黑洞是宇宙中最明亮的现象的成因时，也许会感到惊讶。这种显著的对比是可能的，因为黑洞产生的强烈的力量，撕裂所有接近的物质，并把气体云变成灼热的光信标。

An artist's concept illustrating a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

Sometimes, these light shows can be on an order of magnitude that's difficult to comprehend. On July 31, 2019, NASA's Spitzer telescope captured an orbital clash between two black holes that generated an explosion of light brighter than that of a trillion stars or more than twice the brightness of our own Milky Way galaxy!

有时，这些光的展示可能是一个难以理解的数量级。在2019年7月31日，美国宇航局的斯皮策望远镜捕捉到两个黑洞之间的轨道碰撞，产生了比一万亿颗恒星更亮的爆炸光，或比我们自己的银河系亮度的两倍还多!

A hungry cosmic furnace

饥饿的宇宙熔炉

Black holes are capable of generating these light shows due to the way they wreak havoc on everything that dares come too close to their sphere of influence. As matter and gas swirls towards the black hole's center, it forms an accretion disc where particles heat up to millions of degrees. This ionized matter is then ejected as twin beams along the axis of rotation.

黑洞之所以能够产生这些光的显示，是因为它们对任何敢接近其势力范围的事物都进行了破坏。当物质和气体向黑洞中心旋转时，它会形成一个吸积盘，其中的粒子会被加热到数百万度。然后，这种离子化物质以双光束的形式沿旋转轴喷射出去。

Depending on our perspective from Earth, the jets are either known as a quasar (viewed at an angle to Earth), a blazar (pointed directly at Earth), or a radio galaxy (viewed perpendicular to Earth). Either way, these light shows — which are the absolute brightest known — and their accompanying radio emissions help researchers discover new black holes that might otherwise go undetected.

根据我们从地球的角度来看，这些喷流要么被称为类星体(从与地球的角度观察)，要么被称为布拉泽(直接指向地球)，要么被称为射电星系(从与地球垂直的角度观察)。不管怎样，这些绝对是已知的最亮的光显示，以及伴随的无线电辐射帮助研究人员发现了新的黑洞，否则这些黑洞可能无法被探测到。

SOFIA may offer answers

SOFIA可能会给出答案

Streamlines showing magnetic fields layered over a color image of the dusty ring around the Milky Way’s massive black hole. (Photo: Dust and magnetic fields: NASA/SOFIA; Star field image: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope)

One recent upgrade that may explain the relative quiet at the center of our galaxy is the new High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-Plus (HAWC+) that was added last summer to NASA's Stratospheric Observatory developed for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).

最近的一次升级或许可以解释我们星系中心相对安静的原因，那就是去年夏天NASA为红外天文学开发的平流层观测站(SOFIA)增加了新的高分辨率机载宽带摄像+ (HAWC+)。

The HAWC+ is capable of measuring the powerful magnetic fields generated by black holes with extreme sensitivity. When it was pointed at Sagittarius A*, researchers discovered that the shape and power of its magnetic field is likely pushing gas into an orbit around it; therefore keeping the gas from feeding into its center and triggering a steady glow.

HAWC+能够以极高的灵敏度测量黑洞产生的强大磁场。当它被指向人马座A*时，研究人员发现，它的磁场的形状和功率很可能将气体推入围绕它的轨道;因此，防止气体进入其中心并触发稳定的辉光。

"The spiral shape of the magnetic field channels the gas into an orbit around the black hole," said Darren Dowell, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, principal investigator for the HAWC+ instrument, and lead author of the study, said in a statement. "This could explain why our black hole is quiet while others are active."

“磁场的螺旋形状引导气体进入黑洞周围的轨道，”NASA喷气推进实验室的科学家达伦·道尔在一份声明中说。他是HAWC+探测器的首席研究员，也是这项研究的第一作者。“这可以解释为什么我们的黑洞是安静的，而其他的是活跃的。”

Researchers hope instruments like HAWC+, as well as increased observations from the global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), might help shed further light on one of our galaxy's most mysterious objects.

研究人员希望，像HAWC+这样的仪器，以及来自全球视界望远镜(EHT)的更多观测结果，可能有助于进一步了解我们银河系最神秘的物体之一。

"This is one of the first instances where we can really see how magnetic fields and interstellar matter interact with each other," added Joan Schmelz, Universities Space Research Center astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, and a co-author on a paper describing the observations. "HAWC+ is a game-changer."

加州硅谷NASA艾姆斯研究中心的大学空间研究中心天体物理学家琼·施梅尔兹补充说:“这是我们能够真正看到磁场和星际物质如何相互作用的首批实例之一。HAWC+将改变游戏规则。”