了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S09E03

Part 3 March 16, 2022, 8:54 a.m.

它们也受到太阳的攻击
And they are also under
attack by the Sun.
太阳的表面会发生爆♥炸♥
There are explosions
coming from its surface.
不仅仅是光，还有高温的等离子体的爆发
Is not just light, but
explosions of hot plasma.
帕克太阳探测器爆♥炸♥了
And the Parker Solar
Probe got blasted.
然而它幸存了下来
And yet it survived.
一股巨大的高能带电粒子爆发
A huge
blast of high-energy
以每小时数百万英里的速度
charged particles launches
into the solar system
射入太阳系
at millions of miles an hour.
一次日冕物质抛射
A coronal mass ejection.
但我们的太阳侦察兵已经准备好了
But our solar scouts is
prepared for the onslaught.
菲尔·普莱特:帕克太阳探测器
PHIL PLAIT: The
Parker Solar Probe
非常接近太阳
gets very close to the Sun.
它有一个防热罩来保护它
And it has a heat
shield to protect it.
但如果它被日冕抛射物质击中
But if it gets hit by a
coronal mass ejection,
它也必须受到保护
it has to be protected
against that as well.
所以，为了在这样的冲击下生存
And so it's been
radiation hardened
它已经被辐射硬化
<辐射硬化指器件能够在辐射的环境下工作的特性>
to survive such an impact.
这些爆发会对我们的星球造成威胁吗？
Could these blasts
pose a danger to our planet?
日冕物质抛射加速了
A coronal mass
ejection accelerates
亚原子粒子的运动
subatomic particles.
它不是一个小粒子
And it's not a little
bit of particles.
可能有多达十亿吨♥的中微子
It could be up to a
billion tons of them
在太阳系中高速呼啸而过
screaming across the solar
system at high speed.
这是我们需要严肃对待的事情
And this is something we
need to take very seriously.
为了了解这些危险的等离子体爆发
To understand these
dangerous blasts of plasma, we
我们必须看看它们的来源……
have to look at their source...
日冕是太阳周围的一个区域
An area around the Sun
known as the corona.
菲尔·普莱特:太阳的日冕有点像它的大气层
PHIL PLAIT: The Sun's corona
is kind of like its atmosphere.
你可以把太阳想象成一个气体球
You can think of the Sun
itself as being a ball of gas.
再往外是稀薄的气体
And then outside of that is this
ethereally thin gas stretching
绵延数百万英里
out for millions of miles.
日冕是一个很难研究的东西
The corona
is a difficult thing
因为太阳的表面太亮了
to study because the
surface of the Sun
挡住了我们的视线
is so bright it blocks our view.
我们只有在日全食时才能看到日冕
We can only see the corona
during a total solar eclipse,
那时月亮挡住了太阳的强光
when the moon blocks
the Sun's bright glare.
然而，天文学家们却不耐烦了
Astronomers, though,
we're impatient.
我们不想等到日全食
We don't want to have to wait
for a total solar eclipse,
因为日全食一年只会发生一两次
which only happens
once or twice a year.
所以我们找到了一种制♥造♥人造日全食的方法
So we figured out a way
to make an artificial one.
这很简单
And it's really simple.
太阳能舰队的一名成员已经覆盖了它
One member of the
solar fleet has it covered.
我们的太阳哨兵，SOHO
Our solar sentinel, SOHO,
creates its own eclipse
通过在探测器的相机前用一个圆形的圆盘
by obscuring the blinding
Sun with a circular plate
遮蔽眩目的太阳，制♥造♥出自己的日食
in front of the probe's camera.
有时候，最好的解决方案就是最简单的解决方案
Sometimes the best solution
is the simplest solution.
你知道，与其制♥造♥一个可以看到
You know, instead of trying
to make a sensor that could
全部太阳光线动态范围的传感器
actually see the full dynamic
range of the Sun's light,
为什么不直接挡住我们不需要的光线呢？
why not just block out the
light that we don't need?
2012年7月，SOHO发现了
In July
2012, SOHO spotted
一大块日冕
a huge chunk of
the corona blasting
喷发到太阳系
off into the solar system.
几秒钟前，另一个监测太阳表面的探测器
Seconds earlier, another probe
monitoring the solar surface
发现了一个明亮的耀斑
spotted a bright flare.
这些事件之间有联♥系♥吗？
Were these events connected?
吉伯·巴斯里:如果一枚耀斑爆♥炸♥
GIBOR BASRI: If
a flare goes off,
它会破坏这些循环
it can disrupt those loops.
如果你把一个地方搞砸了
And if you get the right
kind of disruption,
整件事就会被炸开
the whole thing
can just blow open.
然后就会有
And then you have
a tremendous amount
数十亿吨♥的氢气
of billions of tons
of hydrogen blown
被喷射到星际空间
off into interplanetary space.
这就是日冕物质抛射
And that's a coronal
mass ejection.
日冕物质抛射是剧烈的太阳耀斑
Coronal mass ejections
are solar flares on steroids.
如果说太阳耀斑是爆竹
If a solar flare
was a firecracker,
那么日冕物质抛射更像是原♥子♥弹♥
coronal mass ejection is
more like an atom bomb.
如果日冕物质抛射向我们
And if a coronal
mass ejection comes our way,
就会造成严重影响
it hits hard.
它做的第一件事是
The first thing it
does is it compresses
压缩地球磁场
Earth's magnetic field.
然后环绕地球
And then it wraps
around the Earth.
这导致磁场本身重新排列
And this causes the magnetic
field itself to rearrange,
重新连接，粒子流沿着这些磁场
reconnect, and
streams of particles
向我们的两极移♥动♥
travel down those magnetic
fields toward our poles
并影响大气层
and impact the atmosphere.
我们的防护罩升起来了
Our shields are up.
但他们能穿透我们的防护罩
But they are able to
penetrate our shields.
我们的防护罩就是我们的磁场
Our shield being our
own magnetic field.
一旦它们突破了我们的防御
Once they
breach our defenses,
日冕物质抛射的粒子就会造成严重破坏
the particles of a coronal
mass ejection can wreak havoc.
1972年8月，越南局势高度紧张
In August of 1972, tensions
were running high in Vietnam.
[炸♥弹♥爆♥炸♥]
[bombs exploding]
当磁性传感器被触发时
Two dozen sea mines
detonated at the same time
二十多个水雷同时引爆
when their magnetic
sensors were tripped.
一颗卫星因为被电磁脉冲
A satellite was lost because
of the electromagnetic pulse
击穿而丢失
that ripped through it.
空军的一个传感器探测到
And an Air Force sensor detected
地球某处发生了
what looked like a
nuclear explosion
类似核爆♥炸♥的情况
somewhere here on the planet.
幸运的是，科学家们
Fortunately,
scientists
很快找到了真正的罪魁祸首
quickly found the real culprit.
日冕物质抛射撕裂了
A coronal mass
ejection had ripped
地球的磁场并触发了
through the Earth's
magnetic field
磁传感器
and triggered magnetic sensors.
危机很快缓和下来
The crisis soon de-escalated.
菲尔·普莱特:太阳是一个巨大的等离子体球体