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: Como me Apaixonei pelos Quasares, Blazars e o nosso Incrível Universo

Filmed:
1,513,343 views

Jedidah Isler se apaixonou pelo céu noturno quando era criança. Agora ela é uma astrofísica que estuda buracos negros supermaciços e hiperativos. Numa palestra encantadora, ela nos leva a trilhões de quilômetros da Terra para nos apresentar objetos que podem ter de 1 a 10 bilhões de vezes a massa do Sol - que, às vezes, lançam potentes jatos de partículas em nossa direção.
- 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.
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Meu primeiro amor foi o céu noturno.
00:16
Love is complicated.
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O amor é complicado.
00:17
You're looking at a fly-through of the
Hubble Space Telescope Ultra-Deep Field,
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Essas imagens são do telescópio espacial
Hubble de campo ultraprofundo,
00:22
one of the most distant images
of our universe ever observed.
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uma das imagens mais distantes
do universo já observadas.
00:26
Everything you see here is a galaxy,
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Tudo o que veem aqui é uma galáxia,
00:29
comprised of billions of stars each.
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cada uma delas composta
por bilhões de estrelas.
00:32
And the farthest galaxy is
a trillion, trillion kilometers away.
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E a galáxia mais longínqua
está a um trilhão de quilômetros.
00:37
As an astrophysicist, I have
the awesome privilege of studying
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Como astrofísica,
tenho o incrível privilégio de estudar
00:40
some of the most exotic objects
in our universe.
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alguns dos objetos mais exóticos
do nosso universo.
00:44
The objects that have captivated me
from first crush throughout my career
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Os objetos que me cativaram
à primeira vista ao longo da profissão
00:48
are supermassive,
hyperactive black holes.
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são os buracos negros
supermaciços, hiperativos.
00:53
Weighing one to 10 billion times
the mass of our own sun,
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Com peso de um a dez bilhões
de vezes a massa do Sol,
00:57
these galactic black holes
are devouring material,
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esses buracos negros galácticos
devoram matéria
01:00
at a rate of upwards of
1,000 times more
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a uma velocidade
mais de mil vezes superior
01:04
than your "average"
supermassive black hole.
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a do buraco negro supermaciço "médio".
01:07
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
01:09
These two characteristics,
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Essas duas características,
01:11
with a few others, make them quasars.
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com algumas outras, fazem deles quasares.
01:14
At the same time, the objects I study
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Ao mesmo tempo, os objetos que estudo
01:17
are producing some of the most
powerful particle streams
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produzem alguns dos fluxos
de partículas mais poderosos
01:20
ever observed.
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já observados.
01:21
These narrow streams, called jets,
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Estas correntes estreitas, chamadas jatos,
01:24
are moving at 99.99 percent
of the speed of light,
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movem-se a 99,99 por cento
da velocidade da luz,
01:29
and are pointed directly at the Earth.
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e apontam diretamente para a Terra.
Esses buracos negros,
com jatos apontados para a Terra,
01:33
These jetted, Earth-pointed, hyperactive
and supermassive black holes
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buracos negros hiperativos e supermaçicos,
são denominados blazares
ou quasares brilhantes.
01:39
are called blazars, or blazing quasars.
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Os blazares são especiais
01:43
What makes blazars so special
is that they're some of the universe's
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porque são um dos aceleradores
de partículas mais eficientes do universo,
01:47
most efficient particle accelerators,
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01:49
transporting incredible amounts
of energy throughout a galaxy.
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e transportam quantidades incríveis
de energia através de uma galáxia.
01:54
Here, I'm showing an
artist's conception of a blazar.
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Aqui mostro uma concepção
artística de um blazar.
01:57
The dinner plate by which
material falls onto the black hole
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O prato de onde cai o material
no buraco negro
02:00
is called the accretion disc,
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chama-se disco de acreção,
02:02
shown here in blue.
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mostrado aqui em azul.
02:04
Some of that material is slingshotted
around the black hole
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Parte desse material é catapultado
ao redor do buraco negro
02:07
and accelerated to insanely high speeds
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e acelerado a velocidades altíssimas
02:09
in the jet, shown here in white.
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no jato que vemos aqui em branco.
02:11
Although the blazar system is rare,
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Ainda que o sistema blazar seja raro,
02:14
the process by which nature
pulls in material via a disk,
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o processo pelo qual a natureza
retira matéria por um disco,
02:17
and then flings some of it out via a jet,
is more common.
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e depois lança parte dele por um jato,
é mais comum.
02:21
We'll eventually zoom out of
the blazar system
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Finalmente, saímos do sistema blazar
02:24
to show its approximate relationship
to the larger galactic context.
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para mostrar sua relação aproximada
com o contexto galáctico maior.
02:33
Beyond the cosmic accounting
of what goes in to what goes out,
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Além da contabilidade cósmica
do que entra e do que sai,
02:38
one of the hot topics in
blazar astrophysics right now
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um dos assuntos quentes da
astrofísica de blazares atualmente
02:41
is where the highest-energy
jet emission comes from.
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é saber a origem da emissão
do jato de altíssima energia.
02:45
In this image, I'm interested
in where this white blob forms
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Nesta imagem, me interessa saber
onde se forma esta mancha branca
02:48
and if, as a result, there's any
relationship between the jet
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e se, como resultado,
há alguma relação entre o jato
02:52
and the accretion disc material.
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e o matérial do disco de acreção.
02:55
Clear answers to this question
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Respostas claras para essa questão
02:57
were almost completely
inaccessible until 2008,
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eram quase inacessíveis até 2008,
03:00
when NASA launched a new telescope
that better detects gamma ray light --
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quando a NASA lançou um novo telescópio
que detectava melhor a luz de raios gama,
03:04
that is, light with energies
a million times higher
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quero dizer, luz com energia
um milhão de vezes mais alta
03:07
than your standard x-ray scan.
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que a do aparelho de raio-X comum.
03:10
I simultaneously compare variations
between the gamma ray light data
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Comparo simultaneamente variações
entre os dados da luz de raios gama
03:14
and the visible light data from
day to day and year to year,
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e os dados da luz visível
do dia a dia e de cada ano,
03:18
to better localize these gamma ray blobs.
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para localizar melhor estas
manchas de raios gama.
03:21
My research shows that in some instances,
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Minha pesquisa mostra que em alguns casos,
03:24
these blobs form much closer
to the black hole
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estas manchas se formam muito
mais perto do buraco negro
03:27
than we initially thought.
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do que pensávamos inicialmente.
03:29
As we more confidently localize
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Conforme localizamos com mais segurança
03:31
where these gamma ray
blobs are forming,
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onde se formam
estas manchas de raios gama,
03:34
we can better understand how jets
are being accelerated,
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entendemos melhor como
os jatos se aceleram,
03:37
and ultimately reveal
the dynamic processes
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e afinal, revelamos os processos dinâmicos
03:40
by which some of the most fascinating
objects in our universe are formed.
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pelos quais se formam alguns dos
objetos mais fascinantes do universo.
03:45
This all started as a love story.
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Tudo começou como uma história de amor.
03:49
And it still is.
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E assim permanece.
03:51
This love transformed me from
a curious, stargazing young girl
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Este amor me transformou de jovem curiosa
por observar estrelas
03:55
to a professional astrophysicist,
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em astrofísica profissional,
03:57
hot on the heels of celestial discovery.
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sempre no encalço
do descobrimento celestial.
04:00
Who knew that chasing after the universe
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Quem diria que perseguir o Universo
04:03
would ground me so deeply
to my mission here on Earth.
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sedimentaria minha missão tão
profundamente aqui na Terra?
04:07
Then again, when do we ever know
where love's first flutter
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E novamente, como sabemos
aonde nosso primeiro amor
04:10
will truly take us.
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irá verdadeiramente nos levar?
04:11
Thank you.
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Obrigada.
04:13
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Viviane Ferraz Matos
Reviewed by Wanderley Jesus

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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

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