VOA慢速英语2021 新研究发现天鹅座X-1黑洞可能比预想更大

（单词翻译）

A recent study found that the first black hole ever discovered is a lot bigger than scientists first thought.

一项最新研究发现，人类有史以来发现的第一个黑洞要比科学家最初认为的要大得多。

Black holes are extremely massive space objects whose gravity is so powerful not even light escapes. The black hole, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in 1964. It is well-known for being the object of a friendly bet between two famous scientists.

黑洞是极其巨大的空间物体，其引起是如此之大，甚至连光都无法逃脱。天鹅座X-1黑洞于1964年被发现。它因为成为两位科学家之间友好打赌的对象而闻名。

Researchers found that new observations of Cygnus X-1 showed it is 21 times our sun's mass. That is about 50 percent more massive than scientists had believed.

研究人员发现，对天鹅座X-1的新观测表明其质量是太阳系的21倍。这比科学家之前认为的要大50%。

While it is still one of the closest black holes known, the scientists found it is farther away than earlier estimates suggested. It is 7,200 light years away. A light year is the distance light travels in one year.

尽管它仍然是已知最接近地球的黑洞之一，但是科学家们发现它比之前估计的要远得多。它距离我们有7200光年。1光年是指光在1年当中传播的距离。

Some black holes, like the one at the center of the Milky¹ Way Galaxy², are extremely large. These are called "supermassive" black holes. They can be millions of times more massive than the sun. Smaller black holes are called "stellar-mass" black holes. They have the mass of a single star.

有些黑洞非常大，例如银河系当中的黑洞。这些被称之为“超大质量”黑洞。它们的质量可能是太阳的几百万倍。较小的黑洞被称为恒星级黑洞。它们具有单颗恒星的质量。

Cygnus X-1 is the Milky Way's largest-known stellar-mass black hole. It is among the strongest X-ray sources seen from Earth, said James Miller-Jones of Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia. Miller-Jones led the study that appeared in the publication Science.

天鹅座X-1是银河系当中最大的恒星级黑洞。科廷大学和澳大利亚国际射电天文学研究中心的詹姆斯·米勒琼斯说，这是从地球上观测到的最强的X射线源之一。米勒琼斯领导了这项研究，其研究结果发表在《科学》杂志上。

Cygnus X-1 turns so quickly that it comes close to the highest rate predicted under physicist³ Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, Miller-Jones added.

米勒琼斯还说，天鹅座X-1的自转是如此之快，以至于接近物理学家爱因斯坦的广义相对论所预测的最高速度。

The black hole brings in material that comes from the surface of the star that it orbits. This star is a "blue supergiant," a very large star about 40 times our sun's mass.

这个黑洞吸取了它所绕行的恒星表面的物质。这颗恒星是蓝巨星， 它是一颗非常巨大的恒星，其质量约为太阳质量的40倍。

Cygnus X-1 started to exist 4 million to 5 million years ago as a star up to 75 times more massive than the sun. But then it collapsed⁴ into a black hole a few tens of thousands of years ago.

天鹅座X-1的存在始于400万到500万年前，它是一颗质量是太阳75倍的恒星。但是在几万年前，它坍塌成了一个黑洞。

The research included data from the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope. It is made up of 10 observation stations in the United States.

这项研究包含的数据来自于甚长基线射电望远镜阵。它是由美国的10个观测站组成的。

After Cygnus X-1 was first identified as a possible black hole, a friendly bet was made between two physicists⁵, Stephen Hawking⁶ and Kip Thorne. Hawking bet against the object being a black hole, while Thorne bet that it was one. Hawking eventually admitted that the evidence suggested Cygnus X-1 was a black hole.

在天鹅座X-1最初被认定可能是黑洞之后，斯蒂芬·霍金和基普·索恩这两位物理学家进行了一项友好的打赌。霍金赌这个物体不是黑洞，而索恩赌那就是一个黑洞。霍金最终承认，有证据表明天鹅座X-1是一个黑洞。

Miller-Jones, the leader of the recent study said, "Indeed, I did not have any wagers⁷ riding on these findings."

这项最新研究的负责人米勒琼斯表示：“其实我对这些发现没投任何赌注。”