宇宙（2007）

we may have enough time to shut down the electric grid
我们也许有足够的时间切断电网
to prevent it from burning out,
以免它起火
dodging the deadly bullet otherwise aimed straight for us.
避开致命的子弹 否则就直接向我们来了
A coronal mass ejection may be
日冕物质抛射也许是
the most spectacular phenomenon uncovered by eclipse science.
日食科学发现的最壮观的现象
But the universe is full of other eclipses,
但是宇宙充满了各种其他蚀
each one teaching us something else about the cosmos.
每一种都教给我们一些关于宇宙的东西
Even a short hop into space, no farther than the Moon,
甚至一次不比月球更远的短途空间旅行
turns the tables on us,
就能改变局面
as the Earth becomes the celestial body to eclipse the Sun.
让地球成为造成日食的天体
Think about how important that Apollo 12 image was,
想想阿波罗12号♥图像是多么重要
Were they turned the camera back towards the Earth
如果他们把相机对着地球
and you could see the Earth eclipsing the Sun.
你会看到地球造成的日食
Those images from Apollo were really epic-making for humanity.
阿波罗号♥发回的图像对人类来说是里程碑式的
It gave us our first real sense
它让我们第一次真正意识到
of the Earth as being an object floating in space.
地球就是一个漂浮在太空的物体
Farther out,
更远点
the Cassini space probe looks at Saturn,
卡西尼空间探测器在土星上看太阳
virtually black
几乎是黑色
surrounded by backlit rings as it blocks out the disk of the Sun
被背光式的环围绕着 或者说封闭着
nearly a billion miles away.
距离太阳将近十亿英里远
A very different view of our own moon eclipsing the Sun
与我们的月亮造成的日食完全不同的景象
comes from the Stereo-b spacecraft.
来自于Stereo-b宇宙飞船
From deep space, the Moon appears much smaller,
从空间深处看来 月亮似乎小很多
And it crosses the Sun's disk in what's called a transit.
它越过太阳的表面 称为凌日
This kind of eclipse may be pivotal in answering our questions
这种日食也许是回答我们问题的关键
about who else may be out there in the universe.
关于宇宙中还有什么
What makes transit so important
凌日之所以如此重要
is it's one of our ways
是因为 它是我们
of actually discovering what are called extra-solar planets,
真正发现太阳系外的
planets orbiting other stars.
围绕其他恒星旋转的行星的方式之一
The tantalizing possibility is tempered
这种诱人的可能性由于
by the daunting problem of actually making it work.
实行起来过于困难而令人气馁
Finding a planet transiting in front of its star
发现一颗从恒星前面穿过的行星
is like seeing a flea crawling across an auto's headlight.
就像看见一只跳蚤穿过车前灯一样稀罕
But science is rising to the challenge
但是科学发展日新月异
and new space telescopes trained on the tiny eclipses
新的太空望远镜在观察微小的蚀现象方面有所改善
that uncover planets around distant stars are about to strike gold.
为发现围绕远距离恒星的行星提供了条件
After centuries of wondering,
几个世纪的疑惑之后
the discovery of another Earth in the depths of space
在宇宙深处发现第二个地球
is suddenly within reach.
突然变得触手可及
If the search for eclipses
如果对于蚀的研究
starts with the most spectacular examples here on Earth,
是从地球上最壮观的日食开始的
turning our view out into space reveals other eclipses,
将我们的观察转向太空 发现了其他的蚀
not only in the solar system but far beyond,
不仅在太阳系内 而且更远得多
where they're key to one of astronomy's hottest pursuits,
它们有助于解决天文学的研究热点之一
the hunt for extra-solar planets.
即追踪太阳系外的行星
a very important kind of eclipse right now
就是现在 一种非常重要的蚀
is the eclipse that occurs when an extra-solar planet,
就是当一颗太阳系外 围绕另一颗恒星的行星
a planet orbiting another star passes in front of the parent star.
从恒星前面经过 这时候发生的蚀
It takes a very sensitive telescope to detect that slight dimming.
这需要非常灵敏的望远镜才能探测到如此微小的亮度变化
The most famous telescope project right now
现在最著名的望远镜
is the Kepler space telescope
就是开普勒天文望远镜
that is out there in space looking at over 100,000 sun-like stars
它正在太空中观察着超过十万颗像太阳一样的恒星
and watching over a period of years
而且已经观察了好多年
for the transits of actually Earth-like,
等待真正的像地球一样的
Earth-sized planets going in front of those stars.
并且像地球一样大小的行星从那些恒星前面经过
It'd be great if we could find planets orbiting other stars
如果我们能够找到围绕其他恒星的行星就太好了
by simply pointing a telescope up into the sky
只需要一架望远镜观测太空
and taking a picture of one.
然后拍张图片
But that's really tough.
但是真的很难
One of the reasons that that's really tough
引起困难的原因之一
is because the stars are about 10 million
因为这些恒星比绕着它转的行星
to 10 billion times brighter than the planets that orbit them.
要亮一千万至一百亿倍
I can demonstrate that really easily with this searchlight.
我用这台探照灯就能简单地演示出来
When I turn it on,
当我把灯打开
you see that I become completely lost in the glare of this light,
你会发现我完全消失在了耀眼的灯光中
just as a planet is lost in the glare of the star that it orbits.
就如同行星消失在它围绕的恒星所发出的光芒
Kepler's job is to measure the brightnesses of stars,
开普勒的任务是测量恒星的亮度
just like we can do with this light meter and our simulated star,
就像我们用测光表测量这台
the searchlight.
模拟恒星的探照灯一样
This is how eclipses figure into the mission.
这便是蚀现象在任务中扮演的角色
The light meter's needle dips when something passes
当物体从探照灯前经过 产生了蚀
in front of the searchlight, creating an eclipse.
测光表的指针便会偏转
Kepler does the same thing,
这与开普勒的工作原理如出一辙
but is so sensitive
但它要敏感得多
it can detect a dip of 20 parts per million.
它能侦测到百万分之二十的亮度变化
Kepler is capable of detecting
开普勒能够侦测到
an Earth-sized planet around a Sun-like star
适居带内围绕类日恒星运行的
in the habitable zone.
与地球大小相近的行星
So a real Earth-Sun analog,
也就是一个真正的类日地系统
that's what Kepler is capable of doing.
这是开普勒能力所及的事
And that's the first mission that's capable of doing exactly that.
这也是它能精确完成的第一个任务
Kepler is trained on an area of the galaxy containing
开普勒瞄准了银河系中的一片区域
about 150,000 stars.
那里大约有15万颗恒星
And it monitors every one of them constantly,
它不间断地监视着每颗恒星
measuring each star's brightness every 30 minutes,
每隔30分钟测量一次每颗恒星的亮度
hoping to detect those minute eclipses
希望能侦测到由围绕其中一些恒星运行的行星
caused by planets around some of them.
引起的蚀现象
Just a small fraction of them will be in the right position
只有一小部分的行星 能出现在适当的位置
for us to see their planetary transits.
使我们看见行星凌日现象
Most of the stars in the sky that have planetary systems
在天空中大部分恒星的行星系统中
don't undergo transits.
都不会出现凌日现象
It's only if we have a lucky chance alignment
只有当我们十分幸运地碰到这样一种情形
where the orbital plane of the planet
就是行星的轨道平面
is along our line of sight
与我们的视线平齐
or contains our line of sight to the Earth
或处在地球视线可见范围内
that we can actually see when the planet goes in front of the star
才能看到行星运行到恒星前时
and dims out some of the star's light.
遮蔽了恒星的部分光芒
The very distant combination of light and shadow
这遥远的光影组合
produces for each transit a telltale light curve
为每次凌日交织出一条的光变指示曲线
showing the dip in brightness
它显示了行星从恒星前穿过时
as the planet crosses in front of its sun.
亮度的减弱
Kepler produced results after only a few months on the job.
仅仅工作了几个月后 开普勒就有了发现
We looked at our very first light curves.
我们观察了第一批光变曲线
We could see transits immediately.
很快便发现了凌日现象
I mean, some of them just popped right out at us.
某些行星就这么突然从我们面前冒了出来
The spacecraft was performing flawlessly.
航♥天♥器的表现堪称完美
The data was beautiful.
传回的数据相当惊艳
Right out of the gate,
我们一直想达到一个精准的层面
we were reaching the precision levels
以实现我们最初的期望
very close to what we expected at the beginning.
现在我们离它只有一步之遥了
In January 2010,
2010年1月
The Kepler team announced
开普勒团队宣布
the discovery of the mission's first five planets.
发现了5颗符合任务要求的行星
four are gas giants like Jupiter,
四颗像木星一样巨大
the fifth, the size of Neptune.
第五颗 与海王星一般大
Kepler saw their transits many times
开普勒在第一周的搜寻中
in its first weeks of searching.
就多次侦测到它们的凌日现象
It means they orbit their stars in a matter of days,
这意味着 它们的公转周期只有几天
eclipsing their stars each time.
每次都会使它们的恒星形成蚀
These things are closer to their parent star,
这些行星很接近它们的恒星
about 10 times closer to their parent star
大概比水星到太阳的距离
than Mercury is to our Sun.
还要近10倍
And Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun.
而且水星是离太阳最近的行星
But one of Kepler's ultimate goals
但开普勒最终的目标之一
is to find Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars,
是寻找围绕类日恒星旋转的类地行星
and that takes longer,
这需要更长时间
since they will orbit on time scales like our own... once a year.
因为它们的公转周期会与地球类似...即一年
An Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star
一颗围绕类日恒星旋转的类地行星