Now researchers have identified rocky, asteroidlike material raining down on two white dwarfs.

如今，研究人员已经确定了如下雨般落在两白矮星上多岩石、类似于小行星物质。

The universe becomes dimmer and dimmer, illuminated only by smaller red and white dwarfs.

宇宙会变得越来越暗淡，仅由较小红矮星和白矮星照亮（快烧尽灰渣）。

A white dwarf is the stellar equivalent of a shrunken but feisty old-age pensioner.

从某种程度上说，白矮星虽然已经萎缩，但仍旧不服老龄恒星。

Ben Murdin of the University of Surrey, for example, has been making white dwarfs.

比如说，萨里大学本-穆迪直在“制作”白矮星。

And in the center is a white dwarf.

中间白矮星。

The white dwarf's gravity is so powerful it can suck hydrogen off of that companion.

“白矮星引力非常强，以致于会吸取同伴氢元素。

We now call such stars -- white dwarfs.

我们现在称这种恒星为——白矮星。

It contains two gravitationally linked stars – a white dwarf and a red giant.

它包含两引力相互作用恒星——白矮星和红巨星。

NASA describes a white dwarf as the remains of an Earth-sized star that died.

美国国家航空航天局将白矮星描述为地球大小恒星死亡后残骸。

And how neutron stars, white dwarfs and black holes are created in the first place.

以及中子星、白矮星和黑洞最初如何形成。

Or, it seems, when you're cruising past a white dwarf star.

或者可以说在你缓慢驶过白矮星时。

White dwarfs—the ultimate destiny of stars like the sun—maximize the pollution signal.

类似样终极命运恒星白矮星使得污染信号最大化。

Smaller stars like the sun leave behind what are called white dwarves.

像这样较小恒星会留下白矮星。

Essentially they are White Dwarf stars that become nuclear bombs.

其实它们就变成核弹白矮星。

Dr Murdin built his own little white dwarf to see if the theory looked good.

穆迪博士建造了他自己小白矮星，想弄明白这种理论否真正确。

Now, it might be stable, orbiting in this way, for perhaps one or two hundred years.

这白矮星可能就这样稳定环绕了两百年。

By itself it wouldn't be visible from Earth.

白矮星自身光我们在地球上看不到。

So in essence it's cannibalizing its companion hydrogen-rich star.

从本质上说，白矮星在吸食富含氢恒星同伴。

The object was too massive to be a white dwarf or a neutron star.

这个物体质量大，不可能白矮星或中子星。

The star collapses, the outer part expands, and the star becomes something called a White Dwarf.

恒星坍缩，外层膨胀，恒星变成了白矮星。