了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

And drives its extreme weather.
其实土星的自转很快
Saturn's actually rotating very quickly.
这个大型行星
It's a large planet.
自转一周只需约10小时
It rotates once on its axis about every 10 hours.
所以内部的天气涌上来时
So as the weather comes up from the interior,
就会拖出一条条的纹路
It gets smeared out into bands.
土星北极的条纹很特别
That's saturn's north pole.
让头一次看到的人觉得很不可思议
The bands do something that at first glance, seems impossible.
那里有超大的气体旋涡不停旋转
There is a gigantic vortex A spinning region of air
它的形状是完美的六边形
That's shaped like a perfect hexagon.
那里有压力波 密度波和温度波
You have waves of pressure, density, and temperature
这些波开始起相互作用
That start to interact with each other.
而且它们会互相干扰
And these waves can actually interfere
然后形成壮观的波
And become one big wave
席卷整个土星
That goes all the way around the planet.
这道雄伟的波会持续很久
This giant wave settles into a long-Lasting pattern, because below,
因为底下没有岩石地表
There's no rocky surface
可以破坏这道波的风力结构
To disrupt the winds that form it.
这些风形成了漂亮的正六边形
They form a beautifully defined regular hexagon.
这是土星数一数二的宏伟景象
It's one of the most spectacular things about saturn.
发射机器人探测器
It took robotic probes
探索土星奇异的天气
To reveal the weird weather on saturn,
但如果这些特写镜头的风暴和闪电
But if these close-Up shots of storms and lightning
让科学家吃惊的是
Took scientists by surprise,
没有什么能比土星环带来的冲击力还大了
They were nothing compared to the shock of what came next,
因为土星的存在
Because the rings are alive.
土星如果没有环
Imagine saturn without its rings
就会剩下苍白的星体漂浮在黑暗的太空
Just a pale globe floating in the darkness of space.
有环的土星才迷人
With rings, it's magical.
土星最吸引人的地方
Undoubtedly, the one thing
绝对是它的环
That captures everyone about saturn is the rings.
科幻小说的灵感来自它 甚至望着夜空的人
It's inspired fiction stories, and it's inspired everyone
都会从它那里得到启发
Who's looked at it in the night sky.
我在四 五岁时
When i was 4 or 5 years old,
爸妈从百货公♥司♥里买♥♥了小型望远镜给我
My parents bought a small department store telescope,
我记得我从接目镜往上看
And i remember looking down into that eyepiece
就看到这个完美的行星宝石
And seeing this perfect jewel of a planet.
它美得无与伦比
There's just nothing better than this,
而且你可以看到它的
And you can just see the rings
外♥围♥有一圈完美的环
Going around the planet just perfectly.
就像一条漂亮的椭圆跑道
They're just a gorgeous elliptical race track.
在小型望远镜的接目镜里
From the eyepiece of a small telescope,
这道环看似宁静祥和
The rings seem quiet and serene.
但如果你靠近看会发现不同的景象
But up close, it's a very different picture.
因为有卡西尼号♥探测器和累计了10多年的土星影音
We know this thanks to a space probe called cassini,
我们才知道这些
And over 10 years of images like these.
冰粒子会像改装赛车一样在土星环的内侧
Ice particles jostle for position like stock cars,
互相碰撞运动
Traveling inside the rings
时速高达几十万英里
At hundreds of thousands of miles an hour.
这些冰粒子的体积不一
These particles range in size from chunks of ice
大的有房♥子那么大 小的和雪片一样
As big as houses to the finest powder snow.
在卡西尼号♥到土星进行长♥期♥观察前
It wasn't until we went to saturn
我们都不晓得土星是
And stayed there with cassini that we learned
如此复杂
Just how fiercely complex it is.
那里有土星和卫星的引力
You have the gravity of the planet itself And all of these moons
跟土星 卫星和土星环之间产生相互作用
Interacting with the rings and the moons and the planet.
这些因素塑造了土星体系
All of these things are sculpting that entire system
有的相当细微 有的规模极大
On scales that are both subtle and gross,
所以这颗太阳系的至宝才会出现
And it makes this magnificent crown jewel of the solar system.
小卫星在土星环内运行时
As small moons go around and side,
环粒子会绕着它们舞动
The ring particles dance around them in response.
土星环有些区域
We see areas of the rings that get raised up
会在卫星经过时抬升
As the moon goes by.
卫星甚至会互换轨道
Moons will even switch orbits with each other,
所以土星环里头其实很热闹
So there's a lot of dynamic stuff going on inside the rings.
科学家认为有时候
Scientists believe that from time to time,
土星的冰质卫星会崩裂
Saturn's icy moons break up,
为土星环增添新的物质
Adding new material to the rings.
这意味着土星环的结构一直在变化
This means that the structure of the rings is constantly evolving.
有了卡西尼号♥ 科学家就能分♥析♥
With cassini, scientists can deconstruct the physics
这种演化的物理原理
Of this evolution, and it's teaching us the rules
进而让我们了解宇宙运行的规则
That make the whole universe tick.
我们太阳系的所有行星
All the planets in our solar system
都是45亿年前 从同一个
Evolve from the same flat disc of dust and gas
尘埃气体圆盘里生成的
4 1/2 billion years ago.
天文学家在遥远的年轻恒星周围发现类似的圆盘
Astronomers see similar discs around young distant stars.
然后就连我们最强大的望远镜
But even with our most powerful telescopes,
都看不见行星的形成 因为实在太远了
We can't see planets forming. They're too far away.
然而土星离我们很近
But saturn's rings are right on our doorstep,
它看起来就像迷你太阳系
A veritable snapshot of a mini solar system
在形成时被拍下来的照片
Caught in the process of formation.
我们看着土星环
Looking at the rings,
就等于看着行星形成
We're looking at the formation of planets or bodies
这个过程停下来的状态
In an arrested state of development.
这就像你让行星开始形成
It's like you took the beginning stages
却让它中途停止
Of the formation of the planets but stopped it.
卡西尼号♥显示有的结构会在土星环里自动生成
Cassini shows structures forming spontaneously inside the rings.
它们甚至不需要
They don't even need to be tickled.
外力的介入或干扰就能成形
They don't need to be disturbed into forming structures.
它们会自行生成
They form them on their own.
这个正在成形的小卫星
Does this tiny moon,
能不能告诉我们
Captured in the process of formation,
地球是怎么诞生的呢
Show us how the earth started its life?
这是随机形成的星体
You get something that just happens to form
它很像天文学家
Out of random processes, and that mimics what astronomers
在宇宙其他恒星周围
Think they're seeing in protoplanetary discs
所看到的圆形星盘
Surrounding other stars in the cosmos around us.
卡西尼号♥在土星宽广的A环里
Cassini sees curious propeller-Like structures
发现类似推进器的奇妙结构
Inside saturn's broad a ring.
这是微粒子通过小的隐藏卫星所造成的
They're caused by ring particles washing over tiny hidden moons.
粒子和卫星♥相♥撞
The particles collide with the moons,
卫星的运动轨道便会随机变化
Sending them into random, ever-Changing orbits,
因此卫星和土星的距离会时近时远
Sometimes closer to saturn and sometimes farther away.
或许类似的力量也影响了地球在太阳附近的形成
Perhaps similar forces influenced the earth's formation around the sun,
让地球绕日轨道时大时小
Pushing it into closer or wider orbits.
土星环也能帮助我们了解
Saturn's rings also help us understand
为何行星会停止发育
Why planets stop growing.
胡桃形的土卫18
A walnut-Shaped moon called "pan"
位于土星A环的中♥央♥附近
Sits near the middle of saturn's a ring.
土卫18的周围有许多冰可以吸收
With so much ice around it to gobble up,
按理说它的体积应该很大
Pan should be huge, but it's tiny,
但她很小直径只有20英里
Only 20 miles in diameter.
如果卫星在环粒子的圆盘里
If you have a moon embedded in a disc of ring particles,
你可能会天真的以为
You might naively think it just secretes ring particles
它会吸附环粒子 变成更大的卫星
Until it grows into a, you know, a bigger moon.
但是实际上我们发现
But actually we find moons create gaps
土星会在附近的土星环造成环缝
In the ring around them.
土卫18造成了恩克缝
So pan has created the inky gap.
土卫35造成了基勒缝
Daphnis has created the keeler gap.
土卫18并未吸收环粒子
Rather than pulling ring material in,
它似乎还会推开环粒子
Pan appears to push it away.
土卫18经过
As the moon passes
经过外侧较慢的粒子时
The slower moving material outside it,
它的引力会把粒子轨道往外推
Pan's gravity flings the particles out into wider orbits.
内侧较快的粒子和土卫18擦身而过时速度会减慢
The faster material inside pan's orbit is slow.
由此让粒子更加接近土星
As it passes, the little moon, causing it to fall away towards saturn.
这也许可以解释
This natural cutoff and growth might explain why
为何恒星周围会形成多个行星
Multiple planets form around stars,
而不是单一的巨行星 独吞所有的物质
Instead of single giant planets that eat the whole buffet.
在卡西尼号♥的所有发现中
Of all cassini's discoveries,
最重要也最令人惊讶的可能是