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

如今，研究人员已确定了如下雨般落在两颗白矮上的多岩石的、类似于小行的物质。

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

宇宙会变得越来越暗淡，仅由较小的红矮和白矮照亮（快烧尽的太阳灰渣）。

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

从某种程度上说，白矮是一颗虽然已萎缩，但仍老的龄恒。

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

比如说，萨里大学的本-穆迪一直在“制作”白矮。

And in the center is a white dwarf.

中间是一颗白矮。

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

“白矮的引力非常强，以致于会吸取同伴的氢元素。

We now call such stars -- white dwarfs.

我们现在称这种恒为——白矮。

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

它包含两颗引力相互作用的恒——一颗白矮和一颗红巨。

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描述为一颗地球大小的恒死亡后的残骸。

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

以及中子、白矮和黑洞最初是如何形成的。

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

或者可以说在你缓慢驶过一颗白矮时。

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

类似太阳一样终极命运的恒白矮使得污染的信号最大化。

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

像太阳这样较小的恒会留下白矮。

Essentially they are White Dwarf stars that become nuclear bombs.

其实它们就是变成核弹的白矮。

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的小白矮，想弄明白这种理论是否真的正确。

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

这颗白矮可能就这样稳定环绕了一两百年。

By itself it wouldn't be visible from Earth.

白矮自身的光我们在地球上是看到的。

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

从本质上说，白矮在吸食富含氢的恒同伴。

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

这个物体的质量太大，可能是白矮或中子。

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

恒坍缩，外层膨胀，恒变成了白矮。