共用题干 A Star Is Born

1 The VLT (Very Large Telescope) is the world"s largest telescope（望远镜）and is
taking astronomers（天文学家） further back to the Big Bang than they ever thought
possible.Located 2,600 metres up in the Chilean Andes,it has four huge mirrors,each about the size of a London bus.The VLT is so powerful it can spot a burning match 10,000
kilometres away.
2 This astonishing power will allow astronomers to see events in space from the birth of
stars to the collision（碰撞）of galaxies（星系）on the edge of the cosmos（宇宙）.The
VLT is giving astronomers their best-ever view of the cosmos.The power of the VLT to see
the smallest detail at the furthest distances makes its designers amazed.
3 Take the case of Eta Carinae,one of the most explosive stars in the universe.This star
produces ultraviolet laser rays（紫外线）and it will destroy itself in a few million years" time.
It is five times brighter than the sun and when it explodes it is going to be a sight worth
waiting for!
4 But it is at distances of millions,even billions,of light years that the VLT really shows
its power. The VLT can detect light that set out on its journey before the earth even existed.
This gives astronomers their first-ever detailed views of events that took place in the earliest
days of the cosmos.
5 In other words,the VLT is a kind of a time machine.It takes astronomers back to a
time when complete galaxies crashed into each other. The effects of these past collisions
can now be seen by scientists,and astronomers believe the telescope will reveal more
about these exciting" events in the years to come.One day,we might be able to say we
have traveled back to the beginning of time,and we will have a much clearer picture of how
our planet was born. Paragraph 3_________