了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S08E04

Part 5 Jan. 30, 2022, 2:58 p.m.

Looking over the history
of the universe
有多少气体存在于过往的星系中，以及还有多少剩余的气体
and how much gas was out there
and how much is still left,
我认为可以说大部分
I think it's fair to say
that most of the stars
将会形成的恒星已经形成了
that will ever be made
already have been made.
他们都已经出生了
They've already been born.
由于缺乏恒星形成的气体
Narrator: Thanks to the shortage
of star-forming gas,
恒星不仅仅是在宇宙中消亡
stars won't just be dying
in the universe.
它们会彻底灭绝
They'll go extinct,
最先灭绝的将是体型最大的
and the first to go
will be the largest.
普莱特:随着宇宙的气体耗尽
Plait:
As the universe runs out of gas
越来越少的恒星被制♥造♥出来
and fewer of these stars
are being made,
最终在未来的某个时候
eventually sometime
in the future,
所有大质量甚至是中等质量的恒星，比如太阳
all the high-mass and even
medium-mass stars like the sun,
都会消失
they'll be gone.
这对生命意味着什么？
What does that mean for life?
♪
一些最亮的恒星
narrator:
Some of the brightest stars
会永远消失
will disappear forever,
这引出了一个问题，生命能从
begging the question,
can life survive
死亡恒星留下的怪物魔爪下存活下来吗？
the monsters
that dead stars leave behind?
宇宙的长♥期♥命运并不美好
The long-term fate of the
universe is not a pretty sight.
一些非常有趣的怪物开始出现
Some very interesting creatures
can start to appear.
♪
♪
在恒星末日中
narrator:
In the star apocalypse,
第一个消失的恒星将是最亮的——
the first stars to fade away
will be the brightest --
巨大的恒星，然后是中等大小的太阳
the giant stars,
followed by the mid-sized suns.
宇宙将变得面目全非
The universe will become
unrecognizable.
遥远的未来将是一个非常暗淡的宇宙
The far future will be
a very dim universe,
特别是对我们这样的生物来说
especially for creatures
like us.
如果没有更多的气体，没有更多的新恒星，它就会变暗淡
If there's no more gas,
no more new stars, it gets dark.
害怕黑暗吗？
Narrator:
Scared of the dark?
你将会面对……
You will be...
因为1000亿年后
Because 100 billion years
from now,
在这个新宇宙的阴影下
in the shadows
of this new universe,
怪物们会出来玩
monsters will come out to play.
现在，我们发现自己身处恒星与星光的时代
Now we find ourselves in the era
of stars and starlight.
之后的时代，你可以认为
What comes after
you can think of
是古老恒星的尸体的时代
as the era of the dead corpses
of old stars.
我们已经看到了遍布宇宙的
Narrator: We already see
the corpses of dead stars
死去恒星的尸体——
scattered
throughout the cosmos --
黑洞、脉冲星、白矮星
black holes,
pulsars, white dwarfs.
当更多的恒星灭绝，死亡恒星尸体接管会发生什么？
What happens when more stars die
out and the dead take over?
生命能生存吗？
Can life survive?
塞勒:实际上，宇宙中的生命是有可能生存下来的
Thaller:
It's actually possible that life
in the universe will survive,
但我们必须更有创造力
but we're going to have
to get more creative.
2019年1月
Narrator: January 2019.
盖亚卫星研究了距离地球300光年以内的
The gaia satellite studied
15,000 white dwarfs
15000颗白矮星
within 300 light-years of earth.
这些是类日恒星的尸体
These are the corpses
of sunlight stars.
普莱特:白矮星是类日恒星
Plait: White dwarfs are
the remnants, the cores,
死后的残留物和核心
of stars like the sun
after they die.
白矮星内部不再发生核聚变
There's no more fusion going on
inside of a white dwarf.
所以它只是坐在那里冷却
So it's just kind of
sitting there cooling off,
但结果是，会有一个轻微的缓解
but it turns out
there's a slight reprieve.
白矮星的尸体通常会在
Narrator: The white dwarf
corpses usually cool off and dim
几百亿年的时间里冷却变暗
over tens of billions of years.
盖亚的数据显示了一些不同的东西
Gaia's data showed something
different,
一些我们从未见过的东西
something
we've never seen before.
一些较老的死亡恒星根本没有变暗
Some of the older dead stars
aren't dimming at all.
奥多德:我们曾经认为白矮星
O'dowd: We used to think
that white dwarfs
只会随着时间变暗
could really only dim over time.
毕竟，没有核聚变的来源
After all, there's no source
of fusion,
它们的内部也没有能量来源
no source of energy
in their interiors,
但对盖亚卫星的新研究表明
but new studies with
the gaia satellite have shown
一定有其他的能量来源
that there must be
some other energy source
让这些古老的白矮星发光
keeping those older
white dwarfs shining bright.
♪
某种东西给白矮星的尸体带来了火花
something is giving these
white dwarf corpses a spark,
让他们以僵尸的形式起死回生
bringing them back from the dead
as zombies.
最有力的论据是
The leading contender
白矮星的内部实际上
is that the insides of
white dwarfs
是结晶的
actually crystallize.
在死亡60亿年后
Narrator: Up to 6 billion years
after dying,
白矮星内部的热碳和氧物质
the hot carbon and oxygen matter
inside the white dwarf
冷却并结晶，变成固体
cools and crystallizes,
becoming solid,
给了死亡的恒星一条生命线
giving the dead star a lifeline.
这实际上释放了能量
This actually releases energy.
随着恒星冷却，它会释放出
As the star cools,
it winds up releasing
比正常情况下更多的能量
a little bit more energy
than it otherwise would.
这个不寻常的热源可以让附近的冰冻星球变暖
Narrator:
This unusual heat source could
warm up a nearby frozen planet,
给生命第二次机会
giving life a second chance.
塞勒:这些天体会提供一些额外的能量
Thaller:
There will be some extra energy
available from these objects.
所以现在是我们必须
So this is the time that we have
和僵尸亲密接触的时候了
to cuddle up
close to the zombies.
结晶可以让古老白矮星重新焕发活力
Narrator: Crystallization
can rejuvenate old white dwarfs,
这个过程甚至可以为轨道行星
and the process
could even provide
提供一个壮观的环境
a spectacular setting
for an orbiting planet.
我们对冷却结晶的碳和氧
We have a special name
有一个特殊的名字
for cooled-down crystallized
carbon and oxygen.
我们称它们为钻石
We call them diamonds.
在我们宇宙的长♥期♥命运中
The long-term fate
of our universe
将会撒满这些闪闪发光的钻石
will be sprinkled with
all these glittering diamonds.
一个活过来的僵尸，像钻石一样闪闪发光
A zombie that comes to life
and shines like a diamond
也许看起来很漂亮
might be pretty to look at,
但这仍然不能保证生命可以在这里生存
but it's still no guarantee