The moment you've all been waiting for.

所有人都引領企盼的時刻。

"We're delighted to be able to report to you today that we have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole."

「今天我們很高興能夠向大家報告，我們已經看見以往被認為無法看見的東西。我們已經看見並且拍了一張黑洞的照片。」

The first ever photo of a black hole, more specifically the supermassive black hole 55 million light-years away and almost the size of our entire solar system.

有史以來第一張黑洞的照片，更精確地來說，一個超級大、距離我們 5,500 萬光年，且幾乎與整個太陽系一般大的黑洞。

It took only two years, 12,000 simulations, 200 researchers, 60 institutes and an international partnership of radio telescope sites spread across the world to get it.

它只花了兩年，12,000 次模擬，200 個研究員，60 個研究機構和 1 個遍及全球的雷達望遠鏡站國際合作計畫來達成。

And it will finally tell us if Einstein's theory of general relativity's prediction of black holes was right or wrong.

而我們最終將得知愛因斯坦的廣義相對論對於黑洞的預言到底是真是假。

I know that's a hefty claim which is why this is big deal.

我知道那是一個很強烈的主張，所以這就是為什麼這個發現如此重要。

But don't fret, Einstein was right, and it's been confirmed that his theory holds up.

但別擔心，愛因斯坦是對的，而他的理論也被證實無誤。

As we may all know, a black hole is one of the most extreme environments in the universe, and nothing, not even light can escape its event horizon.

就像我們可能都知道的，黑洞是宇宙中最極端環境中的其中一個，而沒有任何一樣東西，甚至連光都無法逃離黑洞的邊界。

So these images are not even the real thing.

所以這些影像甚至不是真的。

But we can look at the materials going into a black hole, like gas, stars, and other astrophysical bodies.

但是我們可以看到進入到黑洞的物質，像是氣體、星星和其他天體物理學上的物體。

The atoms of these materials are pulled into the intense gravity of the black hole, which then tosses them around at extreme speeds.

這些物質的原子被黑洞龐大的重力吸進去，然後接著被高速旋轉。

All that commotion causes the atoms to heat up into white-hot emissions of X-ray and other high-energy radiation.

所有的騷動導致原子升溫變成溫度非常高的 X 光射線及其他高能量的輻射線。

This is what the teams at the EHT detected with M87.

這是在 EHT 的團隊用 M87 所偵測到的。

The researchers call this bright orbiting disk of hot material, the black hole's shadow.

研究者們稱這個光亮、像圓盤般環繞的熱物質為黑洞的陰影。

And the shadow is what we're all worked up about.

而這個陰影正是我們一直在研究的東西。

Because just to remind you every other photo you've seen up to this point, has been an artist illustration.

這裡也要提醒大家，到目前為止你所看見的每張照片都是插畫家的作品。

Every.

每。

Single.

一張。

One.

都是。

When these images were made, black holes had never been seen before and were still a theory.

製作這些影像時，還沒有人看過黑洞且它仍是一個理論。

A well-known and highly accepted theory, but a theory nonetheless.

一個知名且高度為人接受的理論，但它終究也還只是一個理論。

So this photo not only proves the existence of black holes, but the shape of its shadow, verifies what we currently understand about theoretical physics.

所以這張照片不只證明了黑洞的存在，黑洞陰影的形狀印證了我們目前對理論物理學的理解。

In 1915, Einstein proposed his theory of general relativity that explains pretty much how gravity interacts with space and time to shape the universe.

在 1915 年，愛因斯坦提出他的廣義相對論，解釋重力如何與空間及時間互動來形塑宇宙。

He also predicted that the light would bend by a certain amount when coming near immense gravity, like our sun.

他也預言當光靠近龐大的重力場，像是我們的太陽時，光會有特定程度的彎曲。

Except his theory of gravity is independent of the modern theories of quantum mechanics.

只是他的重力理論獨立於現代的量子力學理論以外。

These two pillars that uphold physics just don't work together, so one of these theories has to budge.

這兩個支撐物理學界的理論互相排斥，所以這其中的一個必須讓步。

Black holes are one of the places to look for answers, and it looks like general relativity may have the edge, as it's just been proven to hold up near one of the most extreme environments known to man.

黑洞是尋找答案的其中一個解方，而廣義相對論看起來似乎是佔了上風，因為它剛被證實支撐了人們所知之中近乎最極端環境的其中一個。

Next steps will be understanding quantum gravity.

下一步將是要了解量子重力論。

"It is great that we can see the verified with black holes, but to me, I feel like there's bigger mysteries at foot. I'm fascinated by Einstein and that kind of level of understanding of the universe.

「看到黑洞被證實是件很棒的事，但對我來說，目前還有更大的謎題。我被愛因斯坦及他對於宇宙的理解程度吸引。

There were many other people also thinking that fed into this, but I'm fascinated by the fact that we're now at the threshold of understanding black holes is maybe the best clues about quantum gravity, and what's going on, how does gravity actually work.”

過去也有許多人這樣想，但我十分震懾我們現在正處在揭開黑洞可能為量子重力場的最佳線索的時機點，及接下來會發生甚麼事，重力究竟怎麼運作。」

Researchers had only an idea on what they should expect from the photo based on their calculations of the black hole, an asymmetrical lopsided ring of sorts with the disk's light warped around the event horizon.

研究者們根據他們對黑洞的計算，以及他們對於那照片應該有甚麼樣的期盼只有一個想法，一個不對稱、向一側傾斜的的環及圍繞黑洞邊界的圓盤光芒。

Which is what we got.

正是我們得到的結果。

"I have to admit, I was a little stunned that it matched so closely be predictions that we have made. It is gratifying, sometimes frustrating. But, this is the beginning."

「我必須承認，我一開始很驚訝它和我們所做的預言幾乎吻合。這一切都令人感到喜悅，有時候感到挫折。但是，這是一個開始。」

After 12,000 simulations, they produced this photo, that matches what Einstein predicted, and it's an amazing feat because even the slightest deviation from general relativity could have created different shadows entirely.

經過 12,000 次的模擬，他們生產出了這張照片，這張照片與愛因斯坦的預言一致，而這是一個驚人的創舉因為即使只是與廣義相對論些微的誤差都可能創造出完全不同的陰影。

Plus this is just another win for Einstein since the discovery of the gravitational waves in 2016 and the observations of "gravitational redshift" at Sagittarius A-star.

再者，這也是繼 2016 年發現重力波和觀測到人馬座 A 的「重力紅移」後，愛因斯坦的另一個勝利。

But just because the EHT project made event history, they aren't just gonna pack up their gear and head home.

但不會只因為這個 EHT 計畫讓他們名留青史，他們就準備要打包回家。

Nu-uh, that's not how this works ever.

不，不是這樣的，絕對不是。

In fact, now that they've proven the existence of one of the most tremendous events to happen in the universe, they're going to dig deeper.

事實上，現在他們已經證實宇宙其中一個大事件的存在，他們要繼續更深入的研究。

"There are some very interesting things about it that we want to follow up with, there are asymmetries around the ring, the brightness in the southern part, so there will be a lot of future work on this to sharpen our focus on gravity."

「還有很多有趣的事是我們想知道的，環周圍的不對稱，南方的光，所以未來還會有許多在這方面的研究來使我們對宇宙的理解更加清晰。」

Congratulations to the countless researchers worldwide that made this photo possible and thank you for always pushing the seemingly impossible realms of science just a bit further into reality.

恭喜全世界無數個使這張照片成真的研究者們，謝謝你們總是將這看似不可能的科學領域往現實又推進了一點。

If you guys are itching to know more about how this process was done, check out Seeker's interviews with the researchers themselves in our Focal Point and How Close Are We documentaries.

如果你們大家迫切地想知道更多有關這個進展的過程，去看看 Seeker 和研究家們在我們的 Focal Point and How Close Are We 紀錄片中的訪談。

And if you still want more breaking science news in your day, subscribe!

如果你還想要在生活中收到更多的最新科學新聞，訂閱我們的頻道！

I already know we have something extra special for you tomorrow, so don't miss it!

我已經知道我們明天有甚麼格外特別的消息要給你們了，所以不要錯過了！

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time on Seeker.

謝謝收看，我們下次再在 Seeker 見。