8 radio telescopes around the world pooled data to create a picture of a gigantic black hole.

集合全球 8 座電波望遠鏡的數據資料，才拍出這張巨大黑洞的照片。

6 billion times more massive than our sun, which is 53 million light years away, at the center of galaxy M87.

它位在 M87 星系中心，距離 5300 萬光年遠，比太陽大了 60 億倍。

We have seen what we thought was unseeable.

我們看到了原本以為是不可見的事物。

We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole.

我們看見，而且拍到了黑洞的照片。

You can't see inside a black hole.

人類無法看進黑洞內部。

Because no light or electromagnetic radiation can escape its overwhelming gravitational pull.

因為黑洞巨大的重力吸引，沒有任何光線或電磁射線能夠逃脫。

Instead, the international team has imaged the outer edge, the so-called event horizon, of black hole M87.

國際團隊的替代作法是繪出 M87 黑洞外緣，也就是所謂的「事件視野」。

It shows a bright ring of photons, light particles that would normally travel in a straight line.

照片顯示一圈光子，這些光子平常以直線行進。

Bent instead into a circular path by extreme gravity before they fall into the hole.

但因極端重力吸引改採環形軌道，最後被吸進黑洞。

Inside the ring, we see the shadow of the hole itself.

在這圈環狀光子裡面，我們看見的陰影就是黑洞。

This would not have been possible with any individual observatory.

倘若是個別觀測研究，肯定無法取得這樣的成果。

But over the past two years, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has processed radio waves detected by the eight participating telescopes.

但過去兩年來，「事件視野望遠鏡」共處理了來自 8 座合作望遠鏡的無線電波觀測資料。

Which focused on M87 during one week.

這 8 座望遠鏡在一星期的時間內集中觀測 M87 星系。

Combining their data created what is, in effect, an Earth-sized telescope.

我們所蒐集到的資料，事實上就等於地球尺寸的望遠鏡。