发现第一个时空波

A hundred years after Einstein predicted their existence, faint ripples in the fabric of the cosmos finally made their debut. Called gravitational waves, these ripples are created by some of the most violent events in the universe. Despite their extreme origins, gravitational waves remained elusive for so long because their effects on the observable universe are very small.

100年前爱因斯坦就预言了时空波的存在,宇宙结构中的虚弱波动终于登场了。这些波被称为引力波,是由宇宙中一些威力最大的碰撞造成的。尽管引力波的来源巨大,但它却沉寂如此之久,因为它对我们察觉到的'宇宙的影响微乎其微。

But with the help of highly sensitive detectors in Louisiana and Washington State, scientists at last managed to sense gravitational waves passing through Earth in February. Even better, the labs detected a second round of ripples a few months later, confirming that the signal was no fluke. Astronomers are overjoyed at the achievement, because gravitational waves can act as a new way of seeing otherwise invisible objects in the universe, such as directly measuring the properties of enigmatic black holes.

但在路易斯安那州和华盛顿州高灵敏度的探测器的帮助下,科学家最终在二月份成功探测到了引力波波及地球。还有更好的消息,几个月后实验室又探测到了第二轮引力波,证明了波动信号并非偶然。天文学家能取得这个成就特别兴奋,因为引力波能成为观察此前宇宙中无法看到的物体的一种新方式,比如直接探测神秘莫测的黑洞中的物质。