宇宙时空之旅：未知世界（2020）

Cosmos: Possible Worlds S01E08

Part 2 Aug. 24, 2022, 10:55 a.m.

worlds have certain human personality traits,
而且这些遥远星球的影响力
and that the influence of these distant worlds,
根据你出生时有哪些星球上升和下降
depending on which are rising and falling at the time of your birth
将会决定你的个性和命运
will determine who you are and what your fate will be.
这是另一种形式的偏见
It's another form of prejudice,
不去真正了解一个人
making unfounded assumptions about who a person
就对他做出毫无根据的假设
is without bothering to get to know them.
天文学和占星术曾经是同一回事
Astronomy and astrology used to be the same thing,
直到我们对自己在宇宙中的真实处境
until there was a great awakening to our
有了重大觉醒
actual circumstances in the cosmos.
1543年波兰神职人员尼古拉斯·哥白尼指出
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish cleric demonstrated that,
与当时流行的看法相反
contrary to popular belief,
我们不是宇宙的中心
we were not the center of the universe...
地球和其他行星都围绕着太阳转动
the Earth and the other planets travelled around the sun.
将地球从宇宙中心降级
Demoting the Earth from the center of the universe
对人类的自尊是沉重打击
was a severe blow to human self-esteem.
超过一个多世纪后
More than a century later,
有些人还是没有接受这个事实
some people still hadn't gotten over it,
乔瓦尼·卡西尼就是其中之一
and Giovanni Cassini was one of them.
卡西尼接受了一个很好的工作邀约
Cassini accepted a terrific job offer,
由路易十四
an appointment by Louis the XIV,
传奇的法国太阳王任命
the legendary sun King of France,
路易十四自认为是一个执行天命的绝对统治者
Louis believed himself to be an absolute ruler whose dominion was God's will.
但他也是欧洲第一个认识到
But he was also the first monarch in Europe to recognize
科学具有强大力量的君主
the great power of science.
他知道这对国♥家♥安♥全♥至关重要
He knew it was vital to national security.
路易十四创设了世界上第一所
Louis the XIV was inventing the first modern,
现代的公办科学研究机构
governmental, scientific research institute,
巴黎天文台
The Paris Observatory.
卡西尼告诉这位绝对统治者他不会久居巴黎
Cassini told the absolute ruler that he would not be
顶多待一两年
staying long in Paris, a year or two, at most.
但当国王把他的新天文台交给卡西尼管理
But when the King placed his new observatory at Cassini's disposal,
他再也没有兴趣回意大利的家了
he lost all interest in returning home to Italy ever again.
在接下来的125年
For the next 125 years,
巴黎天文台都由卡西尼家族领导
the Paris Observatory would be led by a Cassini.
卡西尼将一幅月球地图献给他的赞助者
Cassini rewarded his patron with a map of the Moon
这在一个世纪以来都是尖端科技
that remained cutting-edge for a century.
路易十四资助了一次前往南美的研究远征
King Louis financed a research expedition to South America
用以对经度进行更准确的测量
to obtain more accurate measurements of longitude,
这对他手下远征船队的船长和天文学家来说
intel of enormous value to the captains of his far-flung
是极具价值的情报
fleet and to astronomers.
卡西尼取得了这些数据成为了第一个
Cassini took all these data and became the first person
计算他曾拒绝过的哥白尼太阳系规模的人
to calculate the scale of the Copernican solar system that he had once rejected.
随着他的望远镜功能越来越强大
With his increasingly powerful telescopes,
他发现了木星上一天的长度
he discovered the length of a day on Jupiter
及其表面的风带和斑点
and the bands and spots on that planet's surface.
卡西尼与英国的罗伯特·胡克
Cassini discovered Jupiter's Great Red Spot independently
各自独♥立♥发现了木星的大红斑
of Robert Hooke in England, and to this day,
直到今天他们都共享这份荣誉
they share the credit.
卡西尼接着着手计算火星上一天的长度
Cassini went on to determine the length of the day on Mars.
他的计算结果与真实数值只有三分钟的差距
He was only off by three minutes.
当他回头对木星进行观察
When he returned to his observations of Jupiter,
其中的矛盾使他百思不得其解
he was stumped by the contradictions in them.
木星的卫星没在预期的时间出现食相
The eclipses by Jupiter's moons did not begin when they were supposed to,
每次食相观察到的时间都不同
they varied from observation to observation.
这是地球和木星在太阳系移♥动♥时
Could it be that it was due to changes in the distance
两个星球间的距离变化导致的吗？
of the Earth from Jupiter, as the two worlds moved through the solar system?
如果这是真的那么光速就不是无穷大
If that were true, then light could not travel at
因为它需要更长的时间才能到达地球
an infinite speed because it was taking longer to reach Earth.
光速是有限的吗？
Was the speed of light finite?
这个想法对卡西尼来说太疯狂了太具革命性
This idea was just too crazy for Cassini, too revolutionary.
被他毅然决然地摒弃了
He rejected it out of hand.
如果他坚持遵循证据研究下去
If he had followed the evidence wherever it led,
他就能发现在350年后
he would have given us the yardstick for the cosmos that
我们仍在使用的宇宙法则
we still use 350 years later.
但是卡西尼过于保守
But Cassini, ever the conservative,
摒弃了这个他认为太过古怪的想法
dismissed the idea as being just too wacky.
几年后丹麦天文学家奥勒·罗默
Several years later, a Danish astronomer,
成为卡西尼在巴黎天文台的助手
Ole Romer, became Cassini's assistant at the Paris Observatory.
罗默对土星卫星的食相进行了自己的观察
Romer made his own observations of the eclipses
也发现了那些被卡西尼摒弃的数据差异
of some of Jupiter's moons and found the same discrepancies in the data that Cassini had dismissed.
但罗默意识到了其中的意义
But Romer recognized them for what they were,
这是证明光速有限的证据
Pieces of evidence for the finite speed of light.
但卡西尼也曾经极度忠于数据
There was a time, however, when Cassini's faithfulness
甚至不惜冒犯路易十四
to the data was so extreme, that he was willing to risk the displeasure of King Louis.
国王要求卡西尼计算出王国的确切面♥积♥
The monarch asked Cassini to calculate the exact area of his realm.
从来没有人尝试过制♥作♥一张准确的地图
No one had ever attempted to make an accurate map,
更不用说地形图了
much less a topographical one that would feature all
这能展示法国所有山脉河流和谷底
the mountains and rivers and valleys of France,
或任何其他国家的地形
or of any other country for that matter.
卡西尼号♥接下了任务
Cassini rose to the task, but discovered results that
但发现结果不可能会取悦国王
could not possibly please the King.
卡西尼告诉国王
Cassini told the King,
"我有一些相当令人失望的消息要告诉您殿下
"I have some rather disappointing news for you, Your Highness.
我们都以为法国会比我们的研究结果大很多但陛下
We all thought that France was a whole lot bigger than our studies, revealed.
恐怕您的王国比以前想象的要小很多"
I'm afraid, Your Majesty, your kingdom is much smaller than heretofore thought."
令众人意外的是国王展现了绝佳的幽默感
The King surprised everyone with his great good humor,
说："怎么回事卡西尼我被你抢走的土地
saying, "Why, Cassini, you've robbed me of more land
比我所有的敌军加起来还多"
than all the armies of my enemies combined."
另外还有他对土星的研究
And then, there is his work on Saturn.
他是第一个知道土星环真实面貌的人
He was the first person to know what the rings of Saturn really were.
他指出他们不是固体
He proposed that they were not solid,
而是由绕行土星的无数卫星组成
but instead composed of countless satellites orbiting
他观察到土星环之间有一定距离
the planet, and he observed that there was a division between the rings.
卡西尼填补了人们对土星认识的一些重大空缺
Cassini filled in some of the big blanks in our understanding of Saturn,
但是我们通过哪种可能的方式去到那里呢？
but how could we possibly ever get there?
有个人将会完成这项神奇的探索任务
Accomplishing that mythic quest was left to one whose
要不是因为你接下来即将看到的事件
tragic life would have been completely forgotten,
他的悲剧人生本来会被彻底遗忘
if not for what you are about to see.
发射升空时重达12000磅以上
Weighing in at more than 12,000 pounds at launch,
NASA的卡西尼号♥宇宙飞船只有一辆巴士那么大
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is the size of a bus.
这个数字包括70磅钚238燃料
That figure included 70 pounds of plutonium 238 fuel,
足够让她飞行超过20年
enough to last her for more than 20 years.
但推动这趟神奇漫游的并非这些燃料
But that's not what powered her mythic odyssey.
卡西尼号♥乘着引力的彩虹一路抵达外太阳系
She rode gravity's rainbow all the way to the outer-solar system.
人类最伟大成就的传承
The lineage of the greatest of human achievements stretches
可以回溯到比我们认为的还更久远的过去
further back than we might assume.
有些源头深埋在希望尽失之人的墓中
Some of their roots are buried deep inside the tomb of lost hope.
但不论如何梦想总能升起
But somehow, dreams rise.
太空探索第一个黄金时代的史诗任务
The epic missions of the first golden age of space exploration,
或许还有下一个黄金时代
and likely the next,
都是因为一个有两个名字的人而变得可能
were made possible by a man whose two names,
他的真名和假名都一起被遗忘了
one real, one fake, are equally forgotten.
亚历山大·沙尔基的早年没有清楚记载
Alexander Shargei's early years are not well-documented
但据说他的母亲是一位政♥治♥活动家
but it is believed that his mother, a political activist
在他只有五岁的时候就被抓走了
was taken from him when he was only five years old
他在父亲的物理和数学教科书中寻求庇护
He took refuge in his father's physics and mathematics textbooks.
但在亚历山大13岁时
But by the time Alexander was 13
他也失去了他的父亲
the boy had lost his father, too.
他和他的祖母住在一起
He lived with his grandmother
尽管生活艰辛
and despite great hardship
他还是被最负盛名的高中录取了
he managed to be accepted at the most prestigious high school
之后又考上了
and afterwards gained admission to
乌克兰最好的工程学院
the best engineering institute in the Ukraine.
但就学才两个月
But only two months after he arrived there
在1914年
in 1914
他被征召加入沙皇的军队
he was drafted into the Czar's army
参加第一次世界大战
to fight in the First World War.
在前线的战争地狱中
In the hell of war at the front
亚历山大构思了一个
Alexander Shargei conceived a scientific strategy
探索月球的科学策略