Supermassive Black Holes 超大质量黑洞 - 1

In March 2000, two astronomers² made an extraordinary discovery, one that is set to overturn our understanding of how the universe formed.

We're never going to see a time like this in astronomy again.

Really, the air is filled with new discoveries and new ideas.

What they discovered was a very simple relationship, a relationship between the galaxy³ we live in and the most destructive force in the universe, a supermassive black hole. It set the world of cosmology alight.

People were not that excited about supermassive black holes. The general astronomer¹ did not care that much about supermassive black holes. Now they have to and, now they'd better.

The ultimate aim of cosmology is to understand how the universe was formed. One of the most important questions is how galaxies⁴ were created, because without them we wouldn't exist.

Galaxies contain almost all of the stars we see in the universe and, maybe the places where all stars in the universe will be created. And stars are what produce oxygen, carbon, planets, everything you need for life. And without life you don't get astronomers.

We see our galaxy, the Milky⁵ Way, as a band of stars in the sky. In fact, it is a giant rotating disc, 200,000 light years wide. It contains over 200 billion stars like our own sun, circling slowly around the center.

overturn: abolish, invalidate, or reverse (an established fact or system, legal decision, etc.)

disc: a flat, thin circular object

1 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

2 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》

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。