ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jedidah Isler - Astrophysicist
Jedidah Isler studies blazars — supermassive hyperactive black holes that emit powerful jet streams. They are the universe’s most efficient particle accelerators, transferring energy throughout galaxies.

Why you should listen

Jedidah Isler has been staring at the stars since she was 11 or 12. But because neither her undergraduate college or the university where she got her first master’s degree offered astronomy majors, she threw herself wholeheartedly into physics. It wasn’t until she entered a doctoral program that she was able to dedicate her time to the studying the night sky. In 2014, she became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D in Astrophysics from Yale.

Isler studies blazars — supermassive hyperactive black holes at the center of galaxies, some of which emit powerful streams of particles. Sometimes these are oriented toward Earth, offering us a unique perspective on the physics of the universe. Isler is a Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow in Physics at Syracuse University. She participates in the Future Faculty Leader program at Harvard's Center for Astrophysics and was named a 2015 TED Fellow.

Isler is also interested in breaking down barriers that prevent many students — especially women of color — from becoming scienists. She works to make STEM accessible to new communities. 

More profile about the speaker
Jedidah Isler | Speaker | TED.com
TED2015

Jedidah Isler: How I fell in love with quasars, blazars and our incredible universe

Jedidah Isler: 我與類星體、躍變體和宇宙的戀愛史

Filmed:
1,513,343 views

Jedidah Isler 很小的時候就愛上了夜空。現在她是一位天體物理學家,研究超質量、高度活躍的黑洞。在她別有洞天的演講當中,她帶我們超越地球數以萬億公里以外,向我們介紹比太陽大100億倍的天體——這些天體有時會把能量超大的粒子流束射向我們。
- Astrophysicist
Jedidah Isler studies blazars — supermassive hyperactive black holes that emit powerful jet streams. They are the universe’s most efficient particle accelerators, transferring energy throughout galaxies. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
My first love was for the night sky天空.
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我的初戀是夜空
00:16
Love is complicated複雜.
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這種喜愛很複雜
00:17
You're looking at a fly-through飛越 of the
Hubble哈勃 Space空間 Telescope望遠鏡 Ultra-Deep超深 Field領域,
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大家看到的是
電腦模擬的哈勃望遠鏡超深空圖像
00:22
one of the most distant遙遠 images圖片
of our universe宇宙 ever observed觀察到的.
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這是目前為止
我們觀察到的最遙遠的圖像之一
00:26
Everything you see here is a galaxy星系,
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你看見的一切同屬一個星系
00:29
comprised of billions數十億 of stars明星 each.
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這個星系由上十億顆星球組成
00:32
And the farthest最遠 galaxy星系 is
a trillion, trillion kilometers公里 away.
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距離我們最遠的星系在數以萬億千里外
00:37
As an astrophysicist天體物理學家, I have
the awesome真棒 privilege特權 of studying研究
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作為一個天體物理學家
我很幸運地能夠學習
00:40
some of the most exotic異國情調 objects對象
in our universe宇宙.
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宇宙中最遙遠的一些天體
00:44
The objects對象 that have captivated迷住 me
from first crush粉碎 throughout始終 my career事業
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首先吸引到我注意力的天體
00:48
are supermassive超大,
hyperactive多動 black黑色 holes.
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是超重、超活躍的黑洞
00:53
Weighing稱重 one to 10 billion十億 times
the mass of our own擁有 sun太陽,
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黑洞的重量是我們太陽的100億倍
00:57
these galactic black黑色 holes
are devouring吞食 material材料,
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這些星際的黑洞在吞噬物質
01:00
at a rate of upwards向上 of
1,000 times more
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與「普通」超重黑洞相比,
01:04
than your "average平均"
supermassive超大 black黑色 hole.
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這些黑洞吞噬速度要快1000倍有多。
01:07
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
01:09
These two characteristics特點,
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這兩個特徵
01:11
with a few少數 others其他, make them quasars類星體.
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加上其他一些特徵,
讓這些黑洞成為「類星體」
01:14
At the same相同 time, the objects對象 I study研究
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同時,我研究的這些天體
01:17
are producing生產 some of the most
powerful強大 particle粒子 streams
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在釋放一些迄今為止剛測到的
01:20
ever observed觀察到的.
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能量最強的粒子流
01:21
These narrow狹窄 streams, called jets噴氣機,
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這些狭窄的噴射流束
01:24
are moving移動 at 99.99 percent百分
of the speed速度 of light,
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運動速度達到光速的99.99%
01:29
and are pointed directly at the Earth地球.
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並且運動方向直接朝向地球
01:33
These jetted黑色大理石, Earth-pointed地球指出, hyperactive多動
and supermassive超大 black黑色 holes
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這些高速、高度活躍、超質量的黑洞
01:39
are called blazars耀變體, or blazing熾烈 quasars類星體.
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被稱作「躍變體」或者「熾熱類星體」
01:43
What makes品牌 blazars耀變體 so special特別
is that they're some of the universe's宇宙
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躍變體的獨特之處在於:
它們是宇宙中最高效的粒子加速器之一
01:47
most efficient高效 particle粒子 accelerators加速器,
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01:49
transporting傳輸 incredible難以置信 amounts
of energy能源 throughout始終 a galaxy星系.
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它們在星系中輸送大到難以置信的能量
01:54
Here, I'm showing展示 an
artist's藝術家 conception概念 of a blazar耀變體.
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這裡是從藝術家的角度看躍變體的概念
01:57
The dinner晚餐 plate盤子 by which哪一個
material材料 falls下降 onto the black黑色 hole
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物質掉入黑洞時所穿過的「餐碟」
02:00
is called the accretion吸積 disc圓盤,
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叫「吸積盤」
02:02
shown顯示 here in blue藍色.
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也就是藍色部分
02:04
Some of that material材料 is slingshottedslingshotted
around the black黑色 hole
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有一些物質在黑洞周圍被彈射
02:07
and accelerated加速 to insanely瘋狂地 high speeds速度
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並在流束中加速到異常的高速
02:09
in the jet噴射, shown顯示 here in white白色.
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白色部分是流束
02:11
Although雖然 the blazar耀變體 system系統 is rare罕見,
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雖然躍變體系統非常罕見
02:14
the process處理 by which哪一個 nature性質
pulls in material材料 via通過 a disk磁盤,
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但是大自然通過盤面吸入物質
02:17
and then flings some of it out via通過 a jet噴射,
is more common共同.
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然後通過流束拋出,
這一過程更加常見
02:21
We'll eventually終於 zoom放大 out of
the blazar耀變體 system系統
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我們最終縮小躍變體系統
02:24
to show顯示 its approximate近似 relationship關係
to the larger galactic context上下文.
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來展示其與更大星系體的潛在聯繫
02:33
Beyond the cosmic宇宙的 accounting會計
of what goes in to what goes out,
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除了宇宙中「進出」黑洞的物質
02:38
one of the hot topics主題 in
blazar耀變體 astrophysics天體物理學 right now
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目前天體物理學界熱點話題之一
02:41
is where the highest-energy最高能量
jet噴射 emission排放 comes from.
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是那些高能噴射流束的來源
02:45
In this image圖片, I'm interested有興趣
in where this white白色 blobBLOB forms形式
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在這圖像裡,我很想知道
這白色光團是在哪裡形成的;
02:48
and if, as a result結果, there's any
relationship關係 between之間 the jet噴射
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噴射流束與吸積盤之間
02:52
and the accretion吸積 disc圓盤 material材料.
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有沒有任何的關聯?
02:55
Clear明確 answers答案 to this question
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我們無法清楚回答這個問題
02:57
were almost幾乎 completely全然
inaccessible人跡罕至 until直到 2008,
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直到2008年
03:00
when NASANASA launched推出 a new telescope望遠鏡
that better detects檢測 gamma伽馬 ray射線 light --
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美國航空航天局發射了一個
能夠更好地觀測伽瑪射線的天文望遠鏡
03:04
that is, light with energies能量
a million百萬 times higher更高
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相比於常規的X射線
03:07
than your standard標準 x-rayX-射線 scan掃描.
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伽瑪射線擁有的能量高達一百萬倍
03:10
I simultaneously同時 compare比較 variations變化
between之間 the gamma伽馬 ray射線 light data數據
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我年復一年、日復一日地對比
可見光的數據和伽瑪射線的數據
03:14
and the visible可見 light data數據 from
day to day and year to year,
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我年復一年,日復一日地對比
可見光的數據和伽瑪射線的數據
03:18
to better localize本土化 these gamma伽馬 ray射線 blobs斑點.
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來更好地定位這些伽瑪射線團
03:21
My research研究 shows節目 that in some instances實例,
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我的研究表明,在某些時候
03:24
these blobs斑點 form形成 much closer接近
to the black黑色 hole
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這些光團會在黑洞附近形成
03:27
than we initially原來 thought.
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比我們的預想的要近很多
03:29
As we more confidently信心十足地 localize本土化
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當我們能夠更加肯定地定位
03:31
where these gamma伽馬 ray射線
blobs斑點 are forming成型,
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那些伽瑪射線形成的位置
03:34
we can better understand理解 how jets噴氣機
are being存在 accelerated加速,
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我們可以更好地解釋
噴射流束是如何被加速的
03:37
and ultimately最終 reveal揭示
the dynamic動態 processes流程
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並最終發現
03:40
by which哪一個 some of the most fascinating迷人
objects對象 in our universe宇宙 are formed形成.
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宇宙中最迷人的那些天體
形成的動態過程
03:45
This all started開始 as a love story故事.
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這一切始於一個愛情故事
03:49
And it still is.
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並一直都是
03:51
This love transformed改造 me from
a curious好奇, stargazing觀星 young年輕 girl女孩
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這個愛好將我從一個
好奇、仰望星空的小女孩
03:55
to a professional專業的 astrophysicist天體物理學家,
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變成了一個專業的天體物理學家
03:57
hot on the heels腳跟 of celestial天上 discovery發現.
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熱衷于追隨天體發現的足跡
04:00
Who knew知道 that chasing after the universe宇宙
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誰知道,追隨宇宙的足跡
04:03
would ground地面 me so deeply
to my mission任務 here on Earth地球.
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會讓我在地球
深深地投身于我的工作中
04:07
Then again, when do we ever know
where love's愛的 first flutter
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我們什麼時候會知道
我們最初的愛好
04:10
will truly take us.
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最終會把我們帶到何方
04:11
Thank you.
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謝謝大家
04:13
(Applause掌聲)
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(掌聲)
Translated by Hengguang Mao
Reviewed by Xingyi Ouyang 歐陽杏儀

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jedidah Isler - Astrophysicist
Jedidah Isler studies blazars — supermassive hyperactive black holes that emit powerful jet streams. They are the universe’s most efficient particle accelerators, transferring energy throughout galaxies.

Why you should listen

Jedidah Isler has been staring at the stars since she was 11 or 12. But because neither her undergraduate college or the university where she got her first master’s degree offered astronomy majors, she threw herself wholeheartedly into physics. It wasn’t until she entered a doctoral program that she was able to dedicate her time to the studying the night sky. In 2014, she became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D in Astrophysics from Yale.

Isler studies blazars — supermassive hyperactive black holes at the center of galaxies, some of which emit powerful streams of particles. Sometimes these are oriented toward Earth, offering us a unique perspective on the physics of the universe. Isler is a Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow in Physics at Syracuse University. She participates in the Future Faculty Leader program at Harvard's Center for Astrophysics and was named a 2015 TED Fellow.

Isler is also interested in breaking down barriers that prevent many students — especially women of color — from becoming scienists. She works to make STEM accessible to new communities. 

More profile about the speaker
Jedidah Isler | Speaker | TED.com