科學家發(fā)現巨大的古老星系隱藏在我們的視野中

科學家發(fā)現巨大的古老星系隱藏在我們的視野中

If you don't want to be found, the universe is a good place to hide.

如果你不想被發(fā)現，宇宙是一個隱藏的好地方。

But as prying Earthling eyes scan the heavens, could entire galaxies remain on the lam?

但是，當好奇的地球人的眼睛掃視天空時，整個星系是否還在運行?

According to research published in the journal Nature, they've been hiding from us for eons.

根據發(fā)表在《自然》(Nature)雜志上的一項研究，它們已經對我們隱藏了上億年。

Ancient galaxies from the study are visible to ALMA (right) but not to Hubble (left). (Photo: Wang et al)

Ancient, secret galaxies, they say, have always been among us. We just had to look for them from a different perspective.

他們說，古老而神秘的星系一直就在我們身邊。我們只需要從不同的角度來尋找它們。

For scientists at the University of Tokyo, that perspective came from stepping away from our faithful eye in the sky — the Hubble Space Telescope — and using an innovative combination of modern observatories to squint at the stars.

對于東京大學的科學家們來說，這種觀點來自于遠離我們在天空中忠實的眼睛——哈勃太空望遠鏡——并使用現代天文臺的創(chuàng)新組合來瞇著眼睛看星星。

And suddenly, there are 39 shiny new galaxies — all hiding in plain sight, and all offering fresh clues to solve the longstanding mysteries of dark matter and black holes.

突然間，39個閃亮的新星系出現了——它們都隱藏在我們的視野之中，所有這些都為解開暗物質和黑洞的長期之謎提供了新的線索。

Not only do these new galaxies represent vast new tracts of the universe for us to ponder, they may also offer key insight into how the universe evolved. For one thing, since they're not exactly the new kids on the block — but likely existed when the universe itself was still young — they've had billions of years to sprawl across space.

這些新星系不僅代表了宇宙中廣闊的新領域，值得我們去思考，它們還可能為我們了解宇宙是如何演化的提供關鍵線索。首先，由于它們并不完全是新出現的孩子——但很可能在宇宙本身還年輕的時候就已經存在了——它們有數十億年的時間可以在太空中蔓延。

And where there are massive galaxies, there are supermassive black holes — and all the dark matter trimmings we can sink our scientific teeth into.

哪里有巨大的星系，哪里就有超大質量的黑洞——以及所有我們可以用科學的牙齒咬進去的暗物質碎片。

Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has given us an unprecedented view of the cosmos. But it's not without its blindspots. (Photo: NASA)

To reveal these galaxies, researchers had to step away from Hubble, an optical telescope that can only respond to visual cues.

為了揭示這些星系，研究人員不得不遠離哈勃望遠鏡，這是一架只能對視覺信號做出反應的光學望遠鏡。

"The light from these galaxies is very faint with long wavelengths invisible to our eyes and undetectable by Hubble," Kohno notes.

Kohno指出:“這些星系發(fā)出的光線非常微弱，我們的眼睛看不見長波，哈勃無法探測到。”

Instead, researchers collected data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, a space-based observatory that sees space in infrared. In all, Spitzer sniffed out 63 objects that we never knew were there. Researchers winnowed down their findings with the Chile-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (mercifully shortened to ALMA).

相反，研究人員從NASA的斯皮策太空望遠鏡上收集數據。斯皮策總共探測出63個我們從未知曉存在的物體。研究人員用基于辣椒的Atacama大毫米/亞毫米陣列(幸運的是縮寫為ALMA)篩選了他們的發(fā)現。

But the best is likely yet to come, as NASA prepares the James Webb Space Telescope, described as "the biggest, most powerful telescope ever to be put in space."

但最好的可能還會到來，因為美國宇航局正在準備詹姆斯韋伯太空望遠鏡，描述為“有史以來最大、最強大的太空望遠鏡。”

Set for a March 2021 launch, this landmark bundle of technology will leave even fewer stones unturned in the universe.

這一具有里程碑意義的技術組合將于2021年3月發(fā)射，屆時宇宙中未開發(fā)的石頭將會更少。

Fugitive galaxies, consider yourselves on notice.

轉瞬即逝的星系，請注意。