追逐冥王星（2015）

If you think nine years is a long time,
那如果再多个几年
adding another couple years onto that,
会变得难以承受
that would have been intolerable.
时间分秒流逝
The clock is ticking.
妈咪与任务执行团队成员
MOM,along with the Mission Ops team,
等着接收宇宙飞船传来的遥测数据
waits to receive telemetry from the spacecraft.
这个数据将显示
This data will reveal whether
新视野号♥是否已经成功获得
New Horizonssuccessfully pulled
木星的重力辅助
off the gravity assist or not.
红色是不好，绿色是好
Red is bad,green is good,
灰色代表没有任何资料
gray means you don't have any data.
他们终于接到宇宙飞船的消息
Finally,they hear from the spacecraft.
主持人，我是冥王星一号♥妈咪
PI,this is MOM on Pluto One.
所有子系统的宇宙飞船遥测数据，均呈正常
Spacecraft telemetry for all subsystems is nominal.
宇宙飞船正从木星往外航行
Spacecraft is outward bound from Jupiter
继续航往冥王星
and we're on our way to Pluto.
截至目前一切顺利很好
So far,so great.This is good.
在前往冥王星的路上
By stealing some momentum
偷到一些木星的动能
from Jupiter along the way to Pluto,
这样可以使宇宙飞船的速度增加20％
we can actually increase the speed of the spacecraft by about 20%
节省三年的航行时间
and cut three years off the travel time.
同时因为飞越木星时
And at the same time,because in order to do the Jupiter flyby
宇宙飞船距离木星♥相♥当近
you end up coming fairly close to it,
可以把握机会，顺便进行科学探测
it gives you an opportunity to do some great science.
这是唯一一次机会
It was the only time we were going to have large objects
摄影机可以实际瞄准大型物体
for the cameras to actually point to and say,
测试它是否可以恰当运作
"Okay,are we doing this right?"
我们使用了新视野号♥的所有仪器
We used all the instruments on New Horizons,
但最重要的是萝莉
but LORRI was prominent.
是她拍照的时候
Okay,thar she blows.
哇，看啊
Look at that!
喔耶，你看这个
两个都有了，两个都有了
And we got both of them,we got both of them.
太美了
It's beautiful!
从超过一百万英里的距离
From more than a million miles away,
萝莉捕捉到一系列
LORRI captures a sequence of images
木星月球“埃欧”(木卫一)上火山爆发的影像
of the eruption of a volcano on Jupiter's moon Io.
这是缩时摄影第一次被应用于
It was the first time that a time-lapse had ever been made
整个宇宙中，除了地球以外的火山
of any volcano anywhere in the universe off the Earth.
所以真的极为难得
So it was really unique.
又是一个羽毛状喷发
It's another plume!
太棒了，完美的影像
Perfect image.
耶!
Yeah!
我们能拍到这些不可思议的影片
We were extremely lucky we got these
真的超级幸运
fantastic movies.
长年的辛苦熬夜和努力工作
It made all those sleepless nights and all that hard work
都值得了
very much worth it.
获得重力辅助之后
After the gravity assist,
新视野号♥进入休眠状态
New Horizons goes into hibernation.
只有基本系统维持运作
Only essential systems are up and running.
这样可以减少设备耗损
This limits the amount of wear and tear on the equipment.
在九年的旅程中
For most of its
大部分时间宇宙飞船等于是在睡觉
nine-year journey,it will be asleep,
但每个星期
but once a week,
宇宙飞船会打电♥话♥回家给妈咪
the spacecraft phones home to MOM.
我是冥王星一号♥妈咪，状态检查
This is MOM on Pluto One,status check.
妈咪让整个团队知道
And MOM lets the whole team know
是否所有系统运作正常
if all systems are in working order.
同时新视野号♥继续穿越太阳系
As New Horizons makes its way across the solar system
航向最后那个等待探测的寂寞星球
to the last and loneliest planet to be explored,
回到地球
back on Earth,
一场革命正在天文学界发生
a revolution in astronomy is taking place.
在连续75年当太阳系第九颗行星之后
After 75 years as the solar system's ninth planet,
冥王星被解雇了
Pluto is getting its walking papers.
冥王星从1930年起，一直是一颗行星
Pluto was,since 1930,a planet.
它有它的地位和朋友
He had stature,he had friends.
太阳系最遥远也最小的行星
Could it be the final indignity for the farthest
是否就要遭受终极侮辱
and smallest planet in our solar system?
“冥王星，继续摇滚吧”
¶ Rock on,Pluto,you'll always be a planet to me ¶
“你永远会是我的行星”
(chanting): Size doesn't matter!
民众上街为冥王星抗争
The public takes to the streets to fight for Pluto.
“冥王星加油”“永远的冥王星”
Go,Pluto! Pluto forever!
自从它在1980年代被发现以来
It's been America's favorite planet
冥王星一直是美国人最喜爱的行星
since it was discovered back in the 1980s
很难想象冥王星的发现者
by the unlikeliest of planet hunters.
克莱德汤博
Clyde Tombaugh
他是个自学有成的农家弟♥子♥
was a self-educated farm boy
就读的学校只有一间教室
who attended a one-room schoolhouse.
他在天文界的第一份工作
His first job in astronomy
内容包括清洁望远镜
included cleaning telescopes
以及在罗威尔天文台扫地
and sweeping up at the Lowell Observatory.
他利用其他时间设法找出
He spent the rest of his time searching for something
在海王星轨道上造成干扰的东西
that could be causing disturbances in Neptune's orbit:
神秘的“X行星”
the mysterious "Planet X."
每隔几天晚上
Every few nights,
他会将一块感光玻璃板
he placed a photosensitive glass plate on the telescope,
牢牢固定在望远镜上
securing it so it would not shift.
然后他让玻璃板面向宇宙
Then he exposed the plate for one hour
曝光一小时
to the universe.
在那段时间中
During that time,
电动望远镜会缓慢移♥动♥
the motorized telescope slowly moved
藉以抵销地球的自转
to compensate for Earth's rotation.
几天以后
Several days later,
他会重复相同步骤
he'd retrace his steps,
拍摄之前拍过的相同天空部位
taking pictures of the same sections of the sky he had photographed earlier.
然后他用一种
Then,using an ingenious
称为“瞬变比较镜”的巧妙装置
device called a blink comparator,
将两张照片对齐
Clyde aligned the two images
仔细检查两者间的差异
to carefully examine their differences.
瞬变比较镜使他可以在两个影像间不断转换
The blink comparator enabled him to shift back and forth,
找出最细微的变化
searching for the subtlest of changes.
虽然肉眼擅于捕捉差异
Although the human eye is good at spotting differences,
但要找到数十亿英里外，某个光线微弱的星体
finding a dim celestial object billions of miles away
无疑是天大的挑战
was a daunting task.
月复一月
Month after month,
他在酷寒的冬季锲而不舍
he forged ahead through a harsh,cold winter.
有一天晚上他差点冻死
He almost froze to death
因为他的手指僵硬到
one night because his fingers got so numb,
无法打开活门离开那个圆顶
he couldn't get the trap door open to get out of the dome.
冬天时，摄影玻璃板容易破裂
They were having a lot of problems with the photographic
使他们很头痛
plates breaking in the cold weather,
他发明一种新的固定装置
and he invented a new plate holder
使玻璃板不会破裂
that would keep the plates from breaking,
因此成功发现了冥王星
and that's what led to the discovery.
耐心搜寻将近一年之后
After patiently searching for almost a year,
意志坚决的克莱德终于发现
a determined Clyde finally found a tiny dot
有一个小亮点在夜空中慢慢移♥动♥
slowly moving across the night sky.
看得到吗?
Can you see it?
在这里
Here it is.
两个月以后
Two months later,
罗威尔天文台骄傲地宣布
the Lowell Observatory proudly announced that
一名年轻助理发现了
a young assistant had discovered
太阳系第九颗行星
the ninth planet in our solar system.
因为这个发现
Because of the discovery,
我父亲获得上大学的机会
my dad got his college education.
否则，他可能不会有钱念大学
Otherwise,he probably would not have been able to afford to go to college.
我可以说那个发现在很多方面
The discovery was,I would say,
成为一家人生活的驱动力
the driver of our life in many ways.
发现冥王星之后
After discovering Pluto,
克莱德成为天文学教授
Clyde taught astronomy,
接下来数十年间
and for decades to come,