超大质量黑洞吸入大量高温气体

伤我心太深

一个超大质量黑洞正吸入高温气体。这一现象给天文学家提供了一些线索，用于研究黑洞的生长和物质在引力挤压下的变化。

Previous findings have shown black holes pulling material toward them, but this black hole, at the center of large, lens-shaped galaxy known as NGC 3115, reveals the first clear signals of hot gas in this new image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

以往的发现表明，黑洞会将外物拉向自己。然而巨大的透镜星系NGC3115中心的黑洞，则首次明确显示高温气体也会被黑洞吸入，如上图。图片来自NASA的ChandraX射线观测站。

"It's exciting to find such clear evidence for gas in the grip of a massive black hole," said Ka-Wah Wong of the University of Alabama, in a release. "Chandra's resolving power provides a unique opportunity to understand more about how black holes capture material by studying this nearby object."

“我们能发现如此清晰的证据，证明大质量黑洞会吸引高温气体，这真令人激动！”阿拉巴马大学的王嘉华轻松地说，“Chandra的分辨率，为我们研究NGC3115的黑洞这个邻近天体，从而进一步理解黑洞如何俘获外物提供了一个独一无二的新契机。”

As the gas approaches the black hole, the compression makes it glow hotter and brighter. This temperature rise begins about 700 light-years away from the black hole, allowing astronomers to estimate the black hole’s mass. The supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 3115, they calculate, has a mass of about 2 billion Suns, making it the nearest billion-solar-mass black hole to Earth at 32 million light-years away.

气体靠近黑洞时，由于受到引力的挤压，温度越来越高，同时发出愈发明亮的辉光。升温现象始于距黑洞700光年处，于是天文学家可以就此估算黑洞的质量。据推算，NGC3115中心的超大质量黑洞，距地球3200万光年，质量相当于太阳质量的20亿倍。这也使它成为距地球最近的“10亿太阳质量级别”黑洞。