VOA标准英语2012--NASA to Launch Black Hole Hunter

 

NASA to Launch Black Hole Hunter

Black holes have a gravitational pull so intense that not even light can escape from them. As gas, dust and stars are sucked in, the material accelerates and heats up, generating powerful X-ray light emissions¹.

Only a few decades ago, scientists thought black holes were rare. But their thinking has changed in the past 20 years, and now NASA is setting out to conduct a census² of the black holes in the universe.

The U.S. space agency is launching a black hole hunter, a new telescope called NuSTAR, but formally known as Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array.

Paul Hertz is the director of NASA's astrophysics division.

"Stars, nebulae and black holes emit X-rays of the type that we use in medical X-rays, and these cannot be detected from the surface of the Earth," explained Hertz. "But the NuSTAR telescope will focus these X-rays onto its digital camera and send the pictures back to Earth for scientific analysis."

Current telescopes provide images that show a general glow from hundreds of massive black holes. NASA expects NuSTAR will be able to provide far better images of black holes and other high-energy events when it surveys the extra-galactic sky.

The images will be studied by people around the world, including NuSTAR's principal investigator³, Fiona Harrison.

"NuSTAR will open a whole new window on the universe, by being the very first telescope to focus on high-energy X-rays. As such, it will make images that are 10 times crisper and 100 times more sensitive than any telescope that is operated in this region of the spectrum," Harrison said. 

The NuSTAR telescope is about the size of a refrigerator, but it has a hidden tool. About a week after NuSTAR launches, it will deploy⁴ a 10-meter mast that will separate its mirrors from its detectors⁵. That mast provides the distance required to focus the X-ray light into sharp images. 

NASA scientists say that perhaps two out of every three black holes in the universe are hidden.

This telescope will be able to find these black holes behind their obscuring veils of dust and gas. It will also be able to tell how quickly a black hole is spinning, which will help scientists learn how black holes form.

"Like all of our NASA missions, we're going to find unexpected things out there that will lead us to questions and answers that we aren't even anticipating at this time," predicted NASA's Paul Hertz.

NASA says NuSTAR will start providing data to scientists about a month after its launch. 

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

4 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

5 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技