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颗白矮星上的多岩石的、类似于小行星的物质。

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

宇得越来越暗淡，仅由较小的红矮星和白矮星照亮（快尽的太阳灰渣）。

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星，想弄明白这种论是否真的正确。

It consists of a silicon crystal sprinkled with phosphorus atoms.

这个小白矮星由布满磷原子的硅晶体组成。

And in the center is a white dwarf.

中间是一颗白矮星。

A white dwarf is the hot and dense center of a burned out star.

白矮星是一颗尽的恒星的炽热而密集的中心。

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

“白矮星的引力非常强，以致于吸取同伴的氢元素。

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的恒星同伴。

We now call such stars -- white dwarfs.

我们现在称这种恒星为——白矮星。

In a nova, the white dwarf remains active after the event.

在新星中，白矮星在事件发生后仍然活跃。

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星时。

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星白矮星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星留下白矮星。

White Dwarf stars sometimes have other stars orbiting nearby.

白矮星附近有时候有别的恒星环绕。

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”白矮星。

The white dwarf's gravity can pull hydrogen gas from the companion star's surface.

白矮星的引力可以将氢气从伴星表面拉出来。

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

这颗白矮星可能就这样稳定环绕了一两百年。

By itself it wouldn't be visible from Earth.

白矮星自身的光我们在地球上是看不到的。

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

这个物体的质量太大，不可能是白矮星或中子星。

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

以及中子星、白矮星和黑洞最初是如何形成的。