了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E04

Part 6 April 18, 2021, 7:46 p.m.

一起被发现，这四颗卫星的直径都不到25英里
each less than 25 miles across.
它们不同于天文学家之前见过的任何卫星
And they're unlike any moons astronomers had seen before.
这些天体的旋转速度比我们预期的
These objects are spinning crazy fast compared
要快得多
to what we expected.
呃，不仅如此
Um, not only that but
它们的磁极并没有像这样
instead of having their poles aligned
与冥王星的磁极对齐
with pluto's pole like this,
它们实际上是在自己的一边旋转
they're actually spinning on their sides.
所以它们就像这样走来走去
So they're sort of going around like this,
是我们没有预料到的
totally crazy behavior
完全疯狂的行为
that we had no expectation of.
为了理解这些疯狂的轨道
To understand these crazy orbits,
科学家们
scientists find clues
在地球早期历史中寻找线索
in the early history of the earth.
在柯伊伯带
In the early days of
形成的早期
the formation of the kuiper belt,
这些冰体经常相互碰撞
these icy bodies were colliding with each other quite often.
就像在地球上，呃
And just like here at the earth, uh,
一个火星大小的原行星与地球相撞
where a large Mars-sized protoplanet
形成了我们的地球/月球系统
actually collided with the earth to form our earth/moon system,
这可能也发生在冥王星上
that's probably what happened at pluto as well.
冥王星很可能在它年轻的时候
Pluto most likely took a giant hit in its youth
受到了巨大的撞击，它的卫星是这次巨大碰撞的残留物
and its moons are the leftovers from this mammoth collision.
巨大的冥卫一与冥王星
Giant charon settled into a close spinning orbit
进入了一个近距离旋转的轨道
with pluto, and, farther out,
在更远的地方，四颗小卫星围绕着
the four tiny moons orbit around both bodies
这两个天体运行，就像滚落的冰碎片
like tumbling shards of icy shrapnel.
超大号♥冥卫一的第一批图像
The first images of oversized charon
显示了一个灰色的、死亡的世界
show a gray, dead world pockmarked
上面布满了暴♥力♥的过去留下的伤疤
with the scars of its violent past.
最大的伤疤是巨大的
The biggest scar is huge.
它几乎将卫星一分为二
It appears to almost split the moon in two.
卡戎，呃，一团糟
Charon is, uh, a mess.
当我看到那张
The first thing I thought of
高清照片时我想到的
when I looked at that picture
第一件事就是
that we got in high resolution is, like,
“这是弗兰肯斯坦(毁灭创造者)的卫星”
"this is Frankenstein's moon."
这看起来就像
This looks like a moon
有人用锤子和凿子
that somebody basically took a hammer and chisel
把它完全敲碎
to and broke it completely apart
然后又把它捣碎在一起
and then just mashed it back together.
但究竟是什么力量将卡隆这样一颗
But what has the power to split a Texas-sized moon
德州大小的卫星
like charon apart
在太阳系外冰冻的荒地上分开呢？
in the frozen wastelands of the outer solar system?
科学家们只有一个选择:
Scientists are left with only one option:
水
Water.
40亿年前
Four billion years ago,
冥卫一内部也有液态海洋，就像今天的冥王星一样
charon had an internal liquid ocean just like pluto today.
但由于冥卫一体积更小
But because charon is smaller,
所以冷却得更快
it cooled more quickly.
整个海洋都变成了冰
The entire ocean turned to ice
可怜的卡戎裂了开来
and poor charon burst at the seams.
如果你把汽水罐放进冰箱
If you take a soda can and put it in the freezer,
当汽水里的水结冰时，它就会膨胀
when the water in that soda freezes, it expands.
但罐头的金属不会
But the metal of the can won't.
所以它会受到越来越大的压力
And so what happens is it gets under more
越来越大的压力
and more stress, more and more pressure,
直到它破裂并且裂开
until it ruptures and it splits open
于是那些东西渗了出来
and that stuff oozes out.
这个………卫星系统上的……
This ... the ... the ... the system of ...
横跨卡戎赤道的，呃
of canyons and faults across, uh,
峡谷和断层就代表了…
the equator of charon really sorta represent that ...
地质活动的最后喘息……
that last gasp of geologic activity as it ...
你懂的，当里面的冰在结冰的时候
it sorta, you know, spilled its guts out
内脏就会流出来，嗯，然后……
as the interior ice froze, um, and ...
而且，你知道，它正在变成一个死亡的世界
and, you know, on its way to becoming a dead world.
所以，这是冥卫一的最后一口气
So, it was charon's last gasp, if you will.
冥卫一的红色极地帽
Charon's red-stained polar cap
也吸引了执行任务科学家的注意
also catches the eye of mission scientist.
他们称之为魔多(就是指环王里的那只眼睛)
They name it mordor.
这片贫瘠的红色地带给探险队
And this barren red-stained terrain presents the team
带来了最大的挑战
with perhaps their greatest challenge.
在卡戎上所有令人惊讶的事情中
Of all the surprising things on charon
呃，这是一个很长的清单
and, uh, it's a long list,
可能最令人惊讶的事情是魔多
probably the most surprising thing is mordor.
我喜欢那个
I love that.
那是卡戎的北极地区
This is the north polar region of charon.
由于某种原因，它是红色的
And for some reason it is red.
上面覆盖着某种红色物质
It's covered in some sort of red substance.
我们认为这可能是一种索林
We think this is probably a tholin.
它是一个复杂的有机分子
It's a complex organic molecule.
魔多似乎到处都是索林，但怎么可能呢？
Mordor appears covered with tholins, but how?
冰冻世界不具备制♥造♥
The frozen world doesn't have the ingredients
复杂有机分子的
or the atmosphere
成分和大气
to make complex organic molecules.
索林一家一定是事先准备好来到冥卫一的
The tholins must be coming to charon premade,
但从哪里来呢？
but from where?
唯一合理的答案是
The only logical answer
来自一万英里外的冥王星
is from pluto, over 10,000 miles away.
它是怎么从冥王星上产生
How would it get from being made on
然后来到冥卫一的呢？真的，没人能确定
pluto to getting to charon ... and, really, nobody's sure.
但人们的想法是，这些物质
But the thinking is that somehow this stuff
以某种方式进入了
is getting into the atmosphere of
冥王星的大气层然后
pluto and being transferred that way through space
通过太空转移来到卡戎的北极
to basically be deposited on the north pole of charon.
这是怎么回事
How that works is something,
呃，我想没人能理解
uh, I don't think anybody understands.
呃，这……这很酷
Uh, and that's ... that's cool
因为还有很多未解之谜
because there are a lot of mysteries left
还有很多研究要做，呃
and a lot of studying to be done, uh,
即便是我们……拥有了所有这些数据
even with all of the ... the data we have.
还有很多问题需要回答
There are still many questions to answer.
但我们现在已经掌握了冥王星的工作原理
But we now have a handle on how pluto works.
这让科学家们可以
And it's allowed scientists
想象这个冰冻世界的未来
to imagine the future of this frozen world.
令人难以置信的是，冥王星可能即将从深冷的睡眠中醒来
Incredibly, pluto may be about to rise from a deep, cold sleep.
2015年，一个微型机器人探测器
2015, a tiny robotic probe shoots past
飞过冥王星并启动了它的摄影快门
pluto and fires its photographic shutters.
这些清晰的图像震惊了世界
The pin-sharp images stun the world.
冰川，平整的平原
Glaciers, smooth young plains,
甚至有活火山的迹象
and even the hint of active cryovolcanoes.
但有一组图像
But one set of images
起初似乎是不可能的
at first appeared impossible.
当我们俯瞰这个全新的世界时
As we looked down on this brand-new world
我们所看到的东西
to us, we saw things that,
一开始是很难解释的
at first, were very hard to explain.
那里似乎有一些洼地和水道
There seemed to be these depressions and channels
看起来像湖泊，甚至像小河
that looked like lakes or even little rivers.
这些流动特征是由氮构成的
These flow features are made from nitrogen.
虽然它们现在是冰冻的
And although they're now frozen,
但在最近的地质历史中
they appear to have been liquid
它们似乎是液态的
in the recent geological past.
但怎么会？
But how?
冥王星太冷了
Pluto is too cold
它的大气层又太薄
and its atmosphere too thin
无法在其表面提供液体
to support liquids on the surface.
在整个宇宙中
In the entire universe,
液体是很难得到的
it is so difficult to get liquid.
所有东西似乎都想变成固体或气体
Everything seems to wanna be a solid or a gas.
你必须要有合适的环境
You have to have just the right circumstances