【科学60秒】鸡生蛋还是蛋生鸡？
Black Hole Quasar Building Galaxy
Which came first, black holes or galaxies? It’s been a bit of a conundrum for astrophysicists. Black holes are known to devour matter, but did they arise before or after, the galaxies in which they exist? Now, scientists say it looks like the black holes build their own galaxies. The research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
鸡生蛋还是蛋生鸡争论的也适用于黑洞与星系的关系，这对天体物理学家们可是一个亘古不变的谜题。都知道黑洞能吞没一切物质，但存在于星系中的黑洞是先于星系形成还是在那之后？现在科学家们终于在《天文和天体物理学报》上发表结论称黑洞构建星系。
Scientists were checking out a quasar, an incredibly distant, incredibly bright object. This quasar was the only one without a known host galaxy. Researchers thought the galaxy must be hidden behind some dust. But they didn’t find one. What they did find is a nearby galaxy that’s producing stars at a rapid pace—the equivalent of about 350 suns per year, a hundred times faster than typical galaxies.
科学家们在研究一种距离遥远，亮度超常的类星体，它是唯一没有已知宿主星系的恒星状球体。研究者猜测它的宿主星系很有可能隐藏在星尘之中，但无迹可寻。只找到了附近的一个正在以极快速度产生恒星的星系——大约每年350颗，这比普通星系快了上百倍。
Scientists observed that the quasar is shooting out highly energetic particles and fast-moving gas in the direction of the galaxy. It looks as if that’s inducing the creation of those stars. So the galaxy will keep growing until it envelops the quasar itself. The researchers conclude that galaxies may thus be formed by clouds of gas that are bombarded by streams of matter and energy from black holes—which are building their own homes.
而科学家们观测到的那颗类星体正在向这个星系的所在方向发射高能量粒子和高速气体，貌似是在催生星系中的恒星形成，所以这个星系会在完全笼罩类星体前继续膨胀扩大。在结论中研究者总结；星系可能是由来自于黑洞的物质流及能量爆炸后的气体云组成——就像黑洞在给自己筑窝一样。
—Cynthia Graber
