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

耶底大·艾斯勒: 我是如何爱上类星体,耀星体和这不可思议的宇宙的

Filmed:
1,513,343 views

耶底大·艾斯勒第一次爱上夜空是在她还是个小女孩的时候。现在她是个研究活跃的超大质量黑洞的天体物理学家。 在这次令人陶醉的演讲中,她带我们去认识距离地球万亿公里以外的那些比太阳质量大10亿到100亿的物体--有时它们还会向地球喷射强大的粒子流。
- 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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我的初恋给了夜空。
00:16
Love is complicated复杂.
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我对它爱很复杂。
00:17
You're looking at a fly-through飞越 of the
Hubble哈勃 Space空间 Telescope望远镜 Ultra-Deep超深 Field领域,
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你们现在看到的是一个哈勃望远镜超深空图像,
00:22
one of the most distant遥远 images图片
of our universe宇宙 ever observed观察到的.
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这是目前我们能观测到的最遥远的宇宙图像之一。
00:26
Everything you see here is a galaxy星系,
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你们现在所看到的一切都是星系,
00:29
comprised of billions数十亿 of stars明星 each.
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每个都由几十亿颗星球组成。
00:32
And the farthest最远 galaxy星系 is
a trillion, trillion kilometers公里 away.
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最远的星系距离我们有10的24次方公里。
00:37
As an astrophysicist天体物理学家, I have
the awesome真棒 privilege特权 of studying研究
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作为一个天体物理学家,我很荣幸能研究
00:40
some of the most exotic异国情调 objects对象
in our universe宇宙.
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一些宇宙中最吸引人的东西。
00:44
The objects对象 that have captivated迷住 me
from first crush粉碎 throughout始终 my career事业
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那让我在职业生涯中始终迷恋的
00:48
are supermassive超大,
hyperactive多动 black黑色 holes.
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就是超大质量的活跃的黑洞。
00:53
Weighing称重 one to 10 billion十亿 times
the mass of our own拥有 sun太阳,
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这些比太阳重1-100亿倍星级黑洞,
00:57
these galactic black黑色 holes
are devouring吞食 material材料,
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正吞噬着物质,
01:00
at a rate of upwards向上 of
1,000 times more
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以超过“平均”超大质量黑洞
01:04
than your "average平均"
supermassive超大 black黑色 hole.
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1000倍的速度。
01:07
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
01:09
These two characteristics特点,
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这两个特质,
01:11
with a few少数 others其他, make them quasars类星体.
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与一些其他的特点一起,使他们成为了类星体。
01:14
At the same相同 time, the objects对象 I study研究
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与此同时,我研究的天体
01:17
are producing生产 some of the most
powerful强大 particle粒子 streams
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释放着一些从未检测到的
01:20
ever observed观察到的.
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最强粒子流。
01:21
These narrow狭窄 streams, called jets喷气机,
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这些细小的粒子流被称为喷射流,
01:24
are moving移动 at 99.99 percent百分
of the speed速度 of light,
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以光速99.99%移动着
01:29
and are pointed directly at the Earth地球.
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而且直冲地球。
01:33
These jetted黑色大理石, Earth-pointed地球指出, hyperactive多动
and supermassive超大 black黑色 holes
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这些高速,直冲地球,活跃且超重的黑洞
01:39
are called blazars耀变体, or blazing炽烈 quasars类星体.
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被称为耀变体,或者闪耀的类星体。
01:43
What makes品牌 blazars耀变体 so special特别
is that they're some of the universe's宇宙
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耀变体如此特殊是因为他们是宇宙中
01:47
most efficient高效 particle粒子 accelerators加速器,
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一些最有效的粒子加速器,
01:49
transporting传输 incredible难以置信 amounts
of energy能源 throughout始终 a galaxy星系.
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将不可思议的能量传送到星系中。
01:54
Here, I'm showing展示 an
artist's艺术家 conception概念 of a blazar耀变体.
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现在,我正展示的是一个艺术家对于耀变体的设想图。
01:57
The dinner晚餐 plate盘子 by which哪一个
material材料 falls下降 onto the black黑色 hole
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物质掉入黑洞时所经过的餐盘
02:00
is called the accretion吸积 disc圆盘,
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被叫做吸积盘,
02:02
shown显示 here in blue蓝色.
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也就是蓝色的部分。
02:04
Some of that material材料 is slingshottedslingshotted
around the black黑色 hole
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有些物质被弹射到黑洞周围
02:07
and accelerated加速 to insanely疯狂地 high speeds速度
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然后在喷射流中加速到异常高的速度
02:09
in the jet喷射, shown显示 here in white白色.
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也就是白色的部分。
02:11
Although虽然 the blazar耀变体 system系统 is rare罕见,
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虽然耀变体系统很少见,
02:14
the process处理 by which哪一个 nature性质
pulls in material材料 via通过 a disk磁盘,
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但是通过吸盘自然的吸收物质的过程
02:17
and then flings some of it out via通过 a jet喷射,
is more common共同.
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然后通过喷射流放出,是很常见的。
02:21
We'll eventually终于 zoom放大 out of
the blazar耀变体 system系统
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我们最后将缩小耀变体系统
02:24
to show显示 its approximate近似 relationship关系
to the larger galactic context上下文.
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来展示它与更大的星系的近似关系。
02:33
Beyond the cosmic宇宙的 accounting会计
of what goes in to what goes out,
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除了对宇宙中进出的物质的计算外,
02:38
one of the hot topics主题 in
blazar耀变体 astrophysics天体物理学 right now
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目前在耀变体天体物理学中的一个热点话题是
02:41
is where the highest-energy最高能量
jet喷射 emission排放 comes from.
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那些高能的喷射流来自哪里。
02:45
In this image图片, I'm interested有兴趣
in where this white白色 blobBLOB forms形式
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在这张图中,我感兴趣的是这些白色物质来自哪里
02:48
and if, as a result结果, there's any
relationship关系 between之间 the jet喷射
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还有,是否最终这些喷射流与吸积盘
02:52
and the accretion吸积 disc圆盘 material材料.
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之间有任何的联系呢。
02:55
Clear明确 answers答案 to this question
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对于这个问题的清晰的回答
02:57
were almost几乎 completely全然
inaccessible人迹罕至 until直到 2008,
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在2008年以前几乎是没有的,
03:00
when NASANASA launched推出 a new telescope望远镜
that better detects检测 gamma伽马 ray射线 light --
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直到美国宇航局发射了一个能够更好的探测伽玛射线的新望远镜
03:04
that is, light with energies能量
a million百万 times higher更高
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这种射线相比X射线,
03:07
than your standard标准 x-rayX-射线 scan扫描.
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有比其高一百万倍的能量。
03:10
I simultaneously同时 compare比较 variations变化
between之间 the gamma伽马 ray射线 light data数据
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同时,我年复一年日复一日的比较
03:14
and the visible可见 light data数据 from
day to day and year to year,
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伽玛射线的数据和其他可见光的数据的变化,
03:18
to better localize本土化 these gamma伽马 ray射线 blobs斑点.
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来更好的定位伽玛射线圈。
03:21
My research研究 shows节目 that in some instances实例,
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我的研究表明有些时候,
03:24
these blobs斑点 form形成 much closer接近
to the black黑色 hole
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这些射线圈比我们预想的
03:27
than we initially原来 thought.
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要距离黑洞更近。
03:29
As we more confidently信心十足地 localize本土化
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当我们越发确定
03:31
where these gamma伽马 ray射线
blobs斑点 are forming成型,
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伽玛射线圈形成的地方,
03:34
we can better understand理解 how jets喷气机
are being存在 accelerated加速,
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我们就能更好的理解喷射流被加速过程,
03:37
and ultimately最终 reveal揭示
the dynamic动态 processes流程
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最终揭示
03:40
by which哪一个 some of the most fascinating迷人
objects对象 in our universe宇宙 are formed形成.
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宇宙中一些迷人的天体的动态形成过程。
03:45
This all started开始 as a love story故事.
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这是一个爱情故事开始的。
03:49
And it still is.
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并且一直是。
03:51
This love transformed改造 me from
a curious好奇, stargazing观星 young年轻 girl女孩
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这个爱把我从一个好奇的,仰望星空的小女孩
03:55
to a professional专业的 astrophysicist天体物理学家,
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转变成一个天体物理学家专家,
03:57
hot on the heels脚跟 of celestial天上 discovery发现.
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热衷于发现天体。
04:00
Who knew知道 that chasing after the universe宇宙
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谁知道追随着宇宙
04:03
would ground地面 me so deeply
to my mission任务 here on Earth地球.
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会让我深深地投入到我在地球上的工作中。
04:07
Then again, when do we ever know
where love's爱的 first flutter
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还有,我们什么时候会知道
04:10
will truly take us.
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我们的爱好最终会将我们引向何方。
04:11
Thank you.
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谢谢大家。
04:13
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Lidong Zhuo
Reviewed by Anne Lin

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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