了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S10E06

Part 3 Aug. 5, 2022, 5:05 p.m.

The Voyager pro
are ready for their
next destination, Saturn.
但要到达那里，它们必须先危险地飞近木星
But to get there, they must
first fly dangerously
close to Jupiter.
旅行者号♥探测器太阳系宏伟之旅的下一站是
The next stop
on the Voyager probes'
grand tour of the solar system
土星
is Saturn.
但这颗环形行星距离木星约4.5亿英里(约7.2亿公里)远
But the ringed planet is ove
450 million miles away
from Jupiter.
为了能到达那里
To get there,
旅行者号♥需要执行一个
the Voyagers will need
to perform a maneuver
被称为引力弹弓的操作
known as
a gravitational slingshot,
它将把它们从一个行星弹射到另一个行星
which will catapult them
from one planet to the next
我们允许木星的巨大引力
We allowed the large gravity
of Jupiter
捕获航♥天♥器
to actually capture
the spacecraft
并开始让它加速驶向那个巨大的行星
and start accelerating it
towards that massive planet.
但我们的角度要非常合适
But we did it
at just the right angle.
所以我们会先绕着它转，然后再继续远离它
So we would move around it,
and then continue away from
the planet.
木星本身正以非常快的速度
Jupiter itself is
barreling around the sun
围绕太阳旋转
at very fast velocities.
如果成功了
As you pull away from Jupite
那么当你远离木星的时候
you keep some of that
velocity with you.
你会保持一定的速度
If it's successfu
如果出了岔子，那么旅行者号♥的旅程
the slingshot will knock yea
off the Voyager's journe
就毁了，一切都结束了
If things go wrong,
it's game over.
要使用引力弹弓
To do a
gravitational slingshot,
你需要做三件事
you need to do three things.
你需要很好的计算
You need to have really
good calculations,
优秀的计划和完美的时机
excellent planning
and perfect timing.
任务控制中心实现了这三个目标
Mission controlle
achieve all three.
策略奏效了
And the maneuver works.
旅行者1号♥和2号♥以每小时225,000英里(约362,000公里)的速度
Voyagers 1 and 2 speed up
by 225,000 miles an hour
冲向土星
and race towards Saturn.
1980年，旅行者1号♥
1980, right on schedule,
准时到达了这颗有光环的行星
Voyager 1 arrives
at the ringed planet.
它的传感器探测了土星的大气层
Its sensors probe
Saturn's atmosphere
发现其中主要是氢和氦
and discover it's mainly
hydrogen and helium.
[菲尔]土星的质量是地球的近100倍
[Phil] Saturn has nearly
100 times the mass
of the Earth.
但它的体积要大得多
But it has so much more volu
所以当你看它的密度时，它实际上比水的密度小
that when you look at
its density, it's actually
less dense than water.
天文学里有一个很古老的笑话
It's a very old joke
in astronomy
如果你把土星放在非常大的浴缸里，它会浮起来
that if you put Saturn in
a bathtub, it would float.
并露出一个环
But it would leave a ring.
最惊人的发现出现在旅行者号♥
The most
striking discovery emerges
from the data
飞越土星9年后的数据中
nine years after
Voyagers' flybys.
在北极有奇怪的云形成
A bizarre cloud formation
at the north pole.
[菲尔]北极上空有一个巨大的六边形
[Phil] A giant hexagon
over the north pole
边长9000英里
with sides 9000 miles long
宽18000英里
and it's 18,000 miles across.
是的,这很奇怪的
Yeah, that's bizarre.
[卡莉]我们通常不会想到像六边形这样稳定的几何形状
[Carly] We don't often
think about very stable
geometric shapes
感觉不应该发生这种事，对吧？
like a hexagon. That feels
like it shouldn't happen,
right?
地球上没有六边形的云
You don't get hexagon shaped
clouds on the Earth.
是什么导致形成一个六边形
What could possib
create a hexagon
其大小超过地球的两倍？
more than twice
the size of Earth?
旅行者号♥发现了这个六边形
Voyager discovered
the hexagon.
但我们没有足够的信息来真正了解它
But we didn't have
enough information to
truly understand it.
在旅行者号♥拜访土星的24年后
Jump forward
24 years after Voyager,
另一个探测器卡西尼号♥
and another probe arrives
at Saturn,
到达土星
Cassini.
卡西尼号♥任务和旅行者号♥任务的主要区别在于
The main difference between
the Cassini mission
and the Voyager missions,
除了卡西尼号♥有更多的尖端设备外
besides Cassini having more
cutting edge equipment on it,
它是一个轨道飞行器
is that it was an orbiter.
它围绕土星运行了13年
It orbited Saturn
for 13 years.
旅行者号♥只是飞过土星而已
The Voyager missions just
flew past it.
卡西尼号♥观察南极数年
Cassini watches
the pole for several years,
捕捉了数千张这个六边形的图像
capturing thousands of image
of the hexagon.
[菲尔]卡西尼号♥任务的美妙之处在于它向我们展示了
[Phil] The beauty of
the Cassini mission is th
it showed us what the hexago
“旅行者”号♥几年后六边形的样子
looked like years later
after Voyager.
这并不一定能解决六边形为什么存在的问题
Didn't necessarily solve
the problem of why
this thing exists,
但它给了科学家很多证据来弄清楚
but it gave scientists
a lot of ammunition
to figure it out.
终于在2020年
Finally in 2020,
一个团队解开了这个谜团
a team solves the mystery.
许多气旋环绕着地球北极的一股巨大急流
Many cyclones surround
a large jet stream of
the planet's north pole.
在这两个天气系统交汇的地方
Where the two
weather systems meet,
就形成了六边形云
a hexagon cloud forms.
我们在地球上看不到这样的东西
Something we don't see here
on Earth.
[卡莉]地球的问题在于它发生了很多事情
[Carly] The trouble
with the Earth
is it has a lot going on.
我们有海洋，有山脉
We have oceans,
we have mountains,
所有这些都会扰乱大气
all of that disrupts
the atmosphere.
在土星上，这些都不存在
On Saturn, there isn't
any of that.
所以你可以拥有非常稳定的气流
So you're able to have thes
very stable airflows
这在地球上是不可能的
that just wouldn't be possib
on the Earth.
[笑]大自然是很奇妙的
[chuckles] Nature's
pretty wonderful.
接下来，旅行者号♥将它们的目光转向土星的光环
Next,
the Voyagers turn
their gaze to Saturn's rings
它们的图像改变了天文学
Their images are gamechanger
[海蒂]在我大学的行星天文学课上，我的一位同学
[Heidi] One of my colleague
in my undergraduate
planetary astronomy class
是一位计算机天才
was a computer whiz.
他成功黑进了美国国家航♥空♥航♥天♥局，拿到了照片
And he managed to hack into
the NASA feed that was
going out.
我们都挤进了他的宿舍
We all piled into
his dorm room,
教授们和学生们都在看
the professors, the students
土星掠过地球时拍摄的照片
seeing images coming from