了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S01E04

Part 5 April 18, 2021, 7:56 p.m.

1987年, 附近银河系出现一道强光
In 1987, a brilliant light
appeared in a nearby galaxy,
在17万光年之外
170,000 light years away.
这些照片纪录一颗巨型恒星消亡后
These pictures record the events
following the death of a massive star,
直径几万亿英里的火球飞向太空
as a fireball trillions of miles
wide hurtles out into space.
但没有恒星开始裂开
But there's no record of
the actual moment of death,
确实消亡时刻的纪录
when the star first ripped itself apart.
要了解巨型恒星爆♥炸♥时的内部情况
The only way to know what happens
inside a massive star when it explodes
唯一方法就是自♥制♥超新星
is to make our own supernova.
这些恒星爆♥炸♥时的奇妙之处
What's amazing when these stars explode
就是它们几乎内外翻转
is that they almost turn inside out.
在纽约, 罗彻斯特这间实验室里
Here in this lab in Rochester, New York,
科学家正用巨型激光制♥造♥超新星
scientists are making a
supernova with a giant laser.
望远镜看不到垂死恒星的内部
Telescopes can't see
inside the dying star.
有了这部激光仪器
With this laser,
就能侦测到恒星爆♥炸♥时的过程
we can detect the processes
that occur as the star explodes.
使用这些工具是极刺♥激♥的事
Working with these tools is the most
exciting thing I can imagine doing.
这巨型机器扩大一道激光束的力量
This massive machine amplifies
the power of a single laser beam,
扩大许多许多倍
a thousand million million times.
能量足以供给30个…
That's enough power to supply 30 cities
像底特律般大的城市使用
the size of Detroit.
所有能量给导往一个针头般大范围
And all that energy will be directed
toward an area the size of a pinhead
看看这个充当恒星核心的细小目标
Look at this tiny
target as a star's core.
激光模拟宇宙间最猛烈的爆♥炸♥
The laser simulates the most
violent explosion in the universe.
发射激光时, 这里绝对不安全
This would not be a safe place
to be when the laser was fired.
若人体给全部这些激光束击中
If a human were struck
by all these laser beams,
能在他们身上钻穿一个洞
it would drill a hole
right through them.
离开受影响的范围
Now going to closed
access in the laser bay.
锁门
Bay doors locked.
完成最后准备
Final preparations are complete.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Five, four, three, two, one.
目标遭激光汽化
The target is vaporised by the laser.
爆♥炸♥只维持了0.00001秒
The explosion lasts just a
hundred thousandth of a second,
但高速摄影机拍到冲击波向外扩散
but a high-speed camera captures
the Shockwave expanding outwards.
部分内部物质射出来
Some of the inner material comes out
跟外部物质对调位置
and trades places with
the outer material,
内外翻转就是恒星爆♥炸♥时的现象
and that turning inside out is just
what happens in a stellar explosion.
恒星核心深处的物质
Material from deep inside a star's core
随着冲击波射进太空
surfs the Shockwave out into space.
在爆♥炸♥极热且混乱的情况中
In the extreme heat and
turmoil of the explosion.
打造出较重的元素
heavier elements are forged.
包括金、银和铂
Among them, gold, silver and platinum,
因为没多少时间让元素形成
and because there's so little
time for the elements to form,
所以它们是宇宙间最罕见珍贵的
they're the rarest and most
valuable in the universe.
银、金等元素在恒星爆♥炸♥期间…
Silver, gold, everything else, are
created by the explosion of the star,
由释放的庞大能量制♥造♥而成
by the immense energy released,
它们就是这样形成的
and that's how they come to us.
但即使在宇宙间最猛烈的爆♥炸♥后
But even after the universe's
most violent explosion,
仍会留下一些东西
there's something left behind.
科学家以前认为在超新星爆♥炸♥后
We scientists used to believe
that after a supernova explosion,
恒星会炸成碎片, 甚么也没留下
a star would literally blow itself to
bits and there would be nothing left
这想法是错的
Well, we were wrong.
有一具残骸
There's a corpse,
超新星爆♥炸♥的残骸
a corpse of a supernova explosion,
科学界所知极奇异的物质: 中子星
some of the most exotic matter known
to science, called a neutron star:
实心的核子物质
solid nucleonic matter,
宇宙间物质的最奇妙状态
the most fantastic state
of matter in the universe.
超稠密的核心变成中子星
The super-dense core
is now a neutron star.
直径约20英里, 难以置信的重
It's around 20 miles across
and unbelievably heavy.
密度极高
It's incredibly dense.
1立方厘米
Just a cubic centimetre,
方糖般大的中子星物质
just a size of a sugar cube
of neutron star material
等于美国所有汽车结合起来那么重
would weigh as much as all the cars in
the United States of America combined
垂死的恒星不仅留下中子星残骸
The dying star doesn't just leave
the corpse of a neutron star,
还把新元素射到太空
it blasts the new elements
far out into space.
这些云含有宇宙的构块
These clouds contain the
building blocks of the universe.
我们所知和热爱的, 都由星尘建造
Everything we know and love
is built from this stardust
只有超新星有足够能量…
Only a supernova has enough
energy to fuse these elements
熔合这些对生命如此重要的元素
which are so essential for life.
没有超新星, 就没有生命
Without supernovae, there's no life,
没有你, 没有我
there's no you and there's no me.
巨型恒星消亡时
When massive stars die,
把星尘散布于宇宙
they seed the universe with stardust.
充满氢、碳、氧、硅和铁等元素
Full of elements like hydrogen,
carbon, oxygen, silicon and iron.
这些原料可以制♥造♥新恒星
The raw materials to build new stars,
太阳系、行星, 当然还有我们
solar systems, planets
and, of course, us.
我们身边的一切都源自恒星的核心
Everything we see around us once
blasted out from the core of a star.
你或疑惑甚么是星尘
You may wonder what stardust is.
其实, 你也是星尘
Well, you're stardust,
因为你体内每个原子
because every atom in your body
都是在恒星狂暴核心内制♥造♥的
was produced inside
the fiery core of a star
你左手的原子
The atoms in your left hand
跟你右手的原子或来自不同恒星
may come from a different star
from the atoms in your right hand,
但你名副其实是「恒星的孩子」
but you are literally a star child.
消亡已久的恒星
Long-dead stars
提供的星尘创造了我们的太阳系…
provided the stardust to
create our solar system,
行星及星体上的一切
the planets and everything on them.
所以, 其实你由碳组成, 由氧组成
So you're made of carbon,
you're made of oxygen,
血液里还有铁
there's iron in your blood.
全部都是在恒星核心内制♥造♥的
All of those things had to be
generated inside the core of a star.
没有其它方法能得到
There's no other way to get them.
思考恒星时, 不妨环顾四周
So when you think about
star stuff, look around you.
组成你的一切元素
Everything that you're made of,
组成你身边万物的一切元素
everything the world
around you is made of,
都来自许久前爆♥炸♥的恒星的核心
had to come from the belly of a
star that blew up a long time ago.
就连我们太阳的原子亦循环再用
Even the atoms in our
own sun are recycled.
它们已是第三或第♥四♥代♥
They're third or fourth generation,
是许久前垂死恒星射进太空的碎片
leftover debris shot into space
by dying stars a long time ago.
我们的太阳就像我们的继母
Our sun is our stepmother.
我们的生母死于超新星爆♥炸♥
Our true mother died
in a supernova explosion
产生组成我们身体的各种元素
to give birth to the elements
which made up our body.
但为何一众诗人、作曲家
But how come the poets
and the songwriters,
不写诗篇歌♥颂我们的生母?
how come they don't write
poems to our true mother?