Many black holes and neutron stars are thought to be hidden in the Milky Way. Since they don't emit visible light, or are covered by dust, only X-ray telescopes can find them.
许多黑洞和中子星被认为隐藏在银河系中,由于它们不能发出可见光,或是隐藏在尘埃后面,只有通过X射线太空望远镜才能观测到。
China will soon launch its first X-ray space telescope, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), with the aim of surveying the Milky Way to observe celestial sources of X-rays.
中国很快将发射其第一颗X射线太空望远镜--硬X射线调制望远镜,以观察银河系从而监测天体的X射线源。
'Our space telescope has unique capabilities to observe high-energy celestial bodies such as black holes and neutron stars. We hope to use it to resolve mysteries such as the evolution of black holes and the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars,' says Zhang Shuangnan, lead scientist of HXMT and director of the Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
中国科学院粒子天体物理实验室的负责人、HXMT的首席科学家张双南表示:“我们的太空望远镜有独特的能力来观察如黑洞和中子星等高能天体,我们希望用它来解决诸如黑洞的演化和中子星的强磁场等问题。”
'We are looking forward to discovering new activities of black holes and studying the state of neutron stars under extreme gravity and density conditions, and the physical laws under extreme magnetic fields. These studies are expected to bring new breakthroughs in physics,' says Zhang.
张双南说道:“我们期待着在极端重力和密度条件下发现黑洞的新活动、研究中子星的状态,以及在极端磁场下的物理定律。这些研究有望为物理学带来新的突破。”
Compared with X-ray astronomical satellites of other countries, HXMT has larger detection area, broader energy range and wider field of view.
与其他国家的x射线天文卫星相比,HXMT具有更大的探测面积、更广泛的能量范围和更广阔的视野。
These give it advantages in observing black holes and neutron stars emitting bright X-rays, and it can more efficiently scan the galaxy, Zhang says.
张双南称,这使得它在观察黑洞和中子星发射出的x射线方面更有优势,而且它能更有效地扫描星系。
联系客服