了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S10E06

Part 4 Aug. 5, 2022, 5:05 p.m.

the Saturn flyby.
我们原以为土星只有几个又宽又平的环
We thought that
Saturn had just a handful
of wide, flat rings.
“旅行者”号♥的图像显示，围绕这颗行星
Voyager's images reveal
thousands of separate rings
有数千个独♥立♥的环
orbiting the planet.
但还有一个更大的惊喜
But there's an even
bigger surprise.
一个不可能的光环
An impossible ring.
当土星的 F环的特写图像
When the F-ring of Saturn
出现在屏幕上时
close up image appeared
on the screen,
它竟然不是一个单环
and instead of being sort o
a single ring,
而是看起来有多个环编织在一起
it looked like multiple rings
that were braided together.
我的教授，欧文·夏皮罗
And my professor,
Irwin Shapiro,
著名的行星天文学家教授说
famous planetary astronomer
professor said,
“那是不可能的”
"That's not possible."
科学家们对这些图像
Scientists pour
over the images
进行了大量研究，试图找出
to figure out what's causin
the bizarre structure.
造成这种奇异结构的原因
Our basic understanding of
rings back then,
我们当时对环的基本理解是，它们是小粒子的集♥合♥
was that they were collections
of little particles
并且它们都沿着相同的轨道运行
that were all just following
the same orbit.
[丹]你会认为这个系统已经稳定了
[Dan] You'd expect that syst
to have settled out into,
你懂的，高速公路上的所有车辆，都朝同一个方向行驶
you know, all the traffic
on the highway,
driving in the same direction,
平行的车道，都很好，很整洁
parallel lanes,
all nice and neat.
你不会预料到有这些奇怪的、动态的相互作用
You don't expect these
weird, dynamic interactions
that are going on.
然后，科学家们发现了两条线索
Then, scientists
find two clues
来解释这种相互作用
to explain the interactions
其中一件被发现的事情是
And one of the things
that was discovered was
two satellites
在 F环内外运行的两颗卫星
that orbit inside and outside
of the F-ring.
普罗米修斯(土卫十六)和潘多拉(土卫十七)
Prometheus and Pandora.
它指出了卫星和土星环是不断相互作用的
It pointed to the idea that
the moons and the rings
were constantly interacting,
但它并没有告诉我们是如何相互作用的
but it didn't really
tell us how.
旅行者号♥对卫星的发现并没有解决
Voyagers' discove
of the moons doesn't solve
the mystery
编织的 F环之谜
of the braided F-ring.
但它确实告诉了卡西尼号♥探测器
But it does tell
the Cassini probe,
25年后，卡西尼号♥
25 years later, where to loo
观察到微小的卫星
Cassini watches the tiny moon
在环绕星球运行的过程中
looping and twisting
around each other
绕着彼此旋转
as they orbit the planet.
当你有两个小卫星，和环一起绕轨道运行时
When you have two
little moons, sort of
co-orbiting with the ring,
会有一个复杂的引力舞蹈发生
there's a complex
gravitational dance
that happens
内部的卫星想要加速粒子
with the inner moon
wanting to speed up particle
外部的卫星想要减慢粒子的速度
the outer moon wanting to
slow them down.
这种有趣的引力舞蹈
And that interesting
gravitational dance
实际上有助于将环限制在
is what actually helps
confine the ring into
我们实际看到的狭窄结构中
the narrow structure that
we actually see.
[卡莉]通过观察这些卫星的另一面
[Carly] By seeing these
moons either side,
人们认为它们可能是在牧羊
there was an idea that
they could be shepherding,
它们可能是在固定光环
they could be holding
the ring in place.
土星的许多卫星和复杂的光环
Saturn's many moo
and complicated rings
就像一个迷你太阳系
are like a mini solar system
现在，两艘旅行者号♥宇宙飞船
Now, the two
Voyager spacecraft separate
分别执行两个单独的任务
to carry out two
individual missions.
旅行者1号♥出发去探索太阳系的边缘
Voyager 1 heads off to explo
the edge of the solar system
旅行者2号♥在土星寒冷的
and Voyager 2 flies int
the freezing cold
阴影中飞行
of Saturn's shadow.
在两个多小时的时间里
For over two hours,
这颗巨大的行星阻断了与太空探测器的所有联♥系♥
the giant planet blocks
all contact with
the space probe.
在紧张的等待之后
After a tense wait,
旅行者2号♥出现了
Voyager 2 emerges.
但是宇宙飞船出了问题
But something's wrong
with the spacecraft.
[琳达]一幅接一幅的黑暗太空出现了
[Linda] Picture after pictur
of dark sky came back.
然后我们意识到，要么是摄像头出了问题
And we realized,
something had either happened
to the cameras,
要么是扫描平台出了问题
or something had happened
to the scan platform.
扫描平台
The scan platform
也就是指向探针仪器的重要旋转关节
the vital rotating joint tha
points the probe's instrumen
没有工作
isn't working.
但科学家如何修复
But how can scientists
fix a probe
距离地球20亿英里的探测器呢？
2 billion miles from Earth?
1981年8月
August, 1981.
开创性的太空探测器旅行者2号♥遇到了麻烦
Pioneering space probe,
Voyager 2 , is in trouble.
从土星后面经过时
Passing behind Saturn,
它的关键部件之一扫描平台卡住了
one of its key components,
the scan platform, jams.
[琳达]扫描平台有点像你的头和脖子
[Linda] The scan platform
is kind of like your
head and neck.
把摄像机想象成你的眼睛
Imagine the cameras
as your eyes.
如果你想转过去看什么东西，你就要把头转过去
And if you want to turn
to look at something,
you'd turn your head.
你的脖子也要动
And your neck has to move.
当旅行者2号♥从土星后面经过时
When Voyager 2
passed behind Saturn,
它以每小时29000英里（约46700公里）的速度穿过土星环
it ploughed through the ring
at 29,000 miles an hour.
也许是一块冰损坏了平台
Maybe a chunk of ice
damaged the platform.
也可能是这个动作让探测器受到了冲击
Or maybe the maneuver
gave the probe whiplash.
我们对卫星、光环和土星的观测是如此的雄心勃勃
We had been so ambitious
in looking at the moons
and the rings and Saturn,
以至于我们甚至从扫描平台的轴承中
that we had literally squeezed
the lubricant
挤出了润滑剂
out of the bearings
of the scan platform.
然而还是卡着
And it got stuck.
损坏的扫描平台可能就是
The broken
scan platform could be fata
整个任务的最后一环了
for the rest of the mission
[琳达]所以，我们担心，“我们能修好它吗？”
[Linda] And so, we worried,
"Could we fix it?"
在旅行者2号♥前面还有天王星和海王星
We had Uranus and Neptune
ahead of us with Voyager 2.
我们希望能够修复扫描平台
We wanted to be able
to fix the scan platform.
为了修复它
To fix it,
工程师们采用了一些空间物理疗法
the engineers employ some
space physiotherapy.
我们从地球上慢慢地指挥它，让它一次移♥动♥一点
We slowly commanded it
from Earth and got it to move
a little bit at a time,
直到最后我们终于能看到你所拍摄的土星的
until finally we could get