宇宙（2007）

The Universe S01E03

Part 3 April 22, 2021, 8:11 p.m.

You could just use a robotic mission to go to an asteroid, and land,
你可以使用机器人前往小行星,进行登陆,
grab a sample and bring it back. That's not that difficult.
取得样本后返回.这并不困难.
What you gain by a man mission is they can
而载人任务的好处是宇航员可以
react to interesting areas on the asteroid's surface. They could go here,
对小行星表面感兴趣的地方作出反应.他们可以去这儿,
there, there. And they wouldn't have to rely on remote navigation.
那儿,那儿.他们不必依靠远程导航.
Nicaraguan border...
尼加拉瓜边境...
Schweickart insists we should remain on high alert regarding asteroid Apophis.
Schweickart强调我们应该对小行星阿波菲斯保持高度警惕.
And his cause hasn't gone unheard.
他的想法已经让大家听到了.
Now the United Nations plans to draft a treaty,
目前联♥合♥国♥计划草拟一个条约,
which will include who will be responsible
其中将包括由谁来负责
for deflecting killer asteroids.
偏转小行星杀手.
That will be a real crime if we are so irresponsible,
如果我们是如此地不负责任的话,那将真的是个犯罪,
knowing that this is gonna happen, that we continue to do nothing about it.
即已经知道将要发生,而我们依然不作出反应.
But asteroids and comets are not the only deep space threats.
不过小行星和彗星不是唯一的来自太空深处的威胁.
Earth has had its ups and... Earth has had its downs.
地球经历了上升以及...地球经历了下降.
You never know what's gonna be around the next corner, and a lot of it is bad.
你永远不会知道围绕着下一个困境的是什么,会有多糟糕.
In far of galaxies, galactic invaders are at work.
星系的远处,银河的入侵者在活动.
Itching to end life on the planet, as we know it.
渴望结束地球的生命,因为我们知道这一点.
Three times daily a strange flash pulsates across our sky.
每天叁次奇异的闪光搏动横跨我们的天空.
It's hundreds of times more powerful than the world's total nuclear armament.
比世界上所有的核武器总和强上数百倍.
But it's not man-made:
然而那不是人造的:
And if one happens close enough to Earth,
而当它足够靠近地球发生,
it could end life on our planet.
就会结束地球的生命.
Most earthlings are unaware of the potential hazards in space.
大多数人没有觉察到太空中潜在的危险.
But the list is long and growing.
但是目录很长而且在不断增长.
Imagine this.
想象一下这个.
Within our own galaxy, the Milky Way, a massive star explodes,
在我们的星系--银河系里,一颗巨大的恒星爆发,
sending a lethal burst of energy rocketing into our planet.
抛出大量的致命能量冲击波来到我们的星球.
This is a gamma ray burst,
这是伽玛射线,
the biggest explosion to rock the Universe, since the Big Bang.
撼动宇宙最大的爆♥炸♥,源自宇宙大爆♥炸♥.
In the cities and countryside below
在城市和乡村
there's no warning of what's about to happen.
对会发生什么没有任何警告.
And then, it strikes.
接着,发生了撞击.
It would be equivalent to standing one mile away from Hiroshima,
相当于站在广岛一英里远的地方,
any place on the Earth.
地球上任何一个地方.
The pumped radiation cooks the upper atmosphere.
不断冲击的射线烧烤着大气层的上部.
Our ozone layer roasts.
臭氧层被烧烤.
Across the atmosphere human beings burns to death from radiation
在大气层里,人们被高于致命剂量
100倍的射线灼烧致死.
a hundred times the fatal dose.
The disappearing ozone layer causes increase temperatures around the world,
臭氧层的消失引起全球气温升高,
triggering cyclones, tsunamis and hurricanes.
引发龙♥卷♥风♥,海啸和飓风.
Most life on the surfaces of land and water incinerates.
陆地上和海洋里的大部分生命被烧死.
This may seem like science fiction,
这有点象科幻小说,
but it could happen, if a gamma ray burst hit Earth
然而有可能发生,如果来自100光年外的
from 100 light years away.
伽玛射线爆发打击地球的话.
Gamma ray bursts are the brightest explosions in the Universe.
伽玛射线爆发是宇宙中最明亮的爆♥炸♥.
Because they are so far away
因为是如此的遥远,
and they are still so brilliant they must involve
还依然如此的耀眼,因此必然是
an enormous amount of power.
蕴藏着巨大的能量.
As much energy as the Sun will emit
能量相当于太阳在
in its entire ten billion year life time.
整整十亿年里喷发的能量.
As a young student,
作为一名年轻的研究者,
Stan Woosley always like the experiments that go "boom".
Stan Woosley总是喜欢象玩方块炸♥弹♥游戏一样做实验.
Now, the work of this astrophysicist
现在,这个天体物理学家的工作
is more than child's play.
就跟小孩子玩游戏差不多.
He's one of the galactic detectives
他的星系探测之一
trying to uncover the mysteries
是试图揭示伽玛射线爆发
behind gamma ray bursts.
背后的秘密.
We know there're many planets and many stars
我们知道宇宙中遍布着
throughout the cosmos, so there may have been
许多行星和恒星,所以就有可能
countless civilizations that were destroyed by gamma ray burst.
有数不清的文明被伽玛射线爆发摧毁.
These peculiar beam of radiation
这些奇特的射线波
were first spotted in the 1960s.
是在1960年被发现的.
At first most astronomers believe these gamma ray bursts
起先大多数科学家认为伽玛射线爆发
must exist in our own galaxy, the Milky Way,
必定是存在于我们的星系,银河系里,
because they're so bright.
这是因为它们是如此的明亮.
There are reason for that, one was if they're outside the galaxy
对此有个说法,如果它们发生在银河系以外,
then the energy was almost unbelievable.
那么其能量几乎令人难以置信.
But at the time,
但在当时,
even the most powerful telescopes
即使是最强大的望远镜
couldn't determine their location and distance
都无法确定它们的位置和距离,
because the burst
这是因为爆发
lasted for a few seconds
只维持了短短的几秒钟
then disappeared.
就消失了.
But then astronomers wondered
然而接着天文学家想知道
what about their afterglow?
它们的余辉是什么.
Cosmic explosions typically leave behind some luminous residue
典型的宇宙爆发会留下一些发光的残余物,
that sometimes lasts for days or weeks.
会持续数天或数周.
In the late 1990s
在90年代后期,
satellites used upgraded optics
装有改进的光学
and x-ray detectors
和X射线探测器的人造卫星
to finally capture a gamma ray bursts afterglow.
终于捕获到了伽玛射线爆发的余辉.
It became clear that gamma ray burst actually were... cosmological,
它变得清晰了,伽玛射线爆发实际上是...宇宙学的,
coming from very far outside of our galaxy,
是来自银河系外遥远的地方,
from millions and billions of light years away.
来自数百万和数十亿光年以外.
And that meant their energy had to truly be astronomical.
那意味着其能量必定是大的无法估量的.
You get some idea of how incredibly bright
你知道这伽玛射线爆发是
a gamma ray burst is...
多么地难以置信的明亮...
We could represent the brightness of our Sun
我们可以用这个相对暗淡的
by this relatively dim led
发光二极管来代表太阳的亮度,
and we can represent the brightness of the gamma ray burst
同时我们可以用在我身后的
by the very very intense searchlight
非常非常强烈的探照灯来代表
that's behind me,
伽玛射线爆发的亮度,
and then incredibly bright.
亮得无法相信.
Unfortunately with this comparison,
这个对比令人遗憾,
the searchlight is not nearly bright enough
探照灯的光度几乎还不足以
to represent fully the gamma ray burst
充分代表伽玛射线爆发,
and in fact we'd need a hundred billion such searchlights
事实上我们需要1000亿个这样的探照灯
to have an adequate comparison.
才够得上进行对比.
The gamma ray burst is equivalent
伽玛射线爆发相当于
100万兆个太阳的亮度.
to the brightness of a million trillion suns.
This massive burst could decimate Earth.
这个巨大的爆发会杀死地球.
But what causes them?
那么是什么引起爆发的呢?
We are quite convinced that the common gamma ray burst
我们已经完全相信普通的伽玛射线爆发
comes from the death of a massive star,
来自巨大恒星的死亡,
at least ten times the mass of the Sun.
它们至少有太阳的十倍大.
And such stars are quite rare by the way.
这样的恒星一般来说相当罕见.
Woosley masterminded a ground-breaking model
Woosley开创性地建立了个模型
of how gamma ray bursts may be created.
来表现伽玛射线爆发是如何产生的.
When an extremely massive star dies
当非常巨大的恒星死亡时,
it collapses into a black hole.
会崩塌进一个黑洞.
Black holes are created when a collection of matter collapses
黑洞产生时,崩塌的物质被压缩
to such a high density that
成非常高的密度,
light itself cannot escape.
连光都无法逃脱.
But Woosley proposes that some of the star
然而Woosley指出有些恒星
resists getting sucked into the center of the black hole.
会抵抗被吸入黑洞中♥央♥.
As result, a high speed spinning disk of matter forms around it.
结果是一个高速旋转的物质圆盘围绕着黑洞.
Within seconds, jets of plasma shoot out from its rotational poles.
片刻之间,等离子射流从旋转的两极喷出.
These beams of energy unleash dangerous gamma rays into space.
这些能量束释放危险的伽玛射线进入太空.
So if you can imagine just trying to squeeze
因此如果你能想象试着把
a fruit or some kind of sphere of some object into a very small space
一个水果或一些物体压缩进非常小的空间,
things are gonna squirt out and in this case
物体将会喷出,在这里
the squeezing is done very rapidly
压缩是非常迅速的,
and you're talking about a huge amount of mass.
而且你讨论的是巨大的物质.
At the same time the gamma ray bursts are ejected
在同一时间发生的是伽玛射线爆发
the collapsing star explodes
和压扁的恒星爆发
or goes supernova to the extreme.
或成为超新星,走到极端.
One of the reasons gamma rays bursts are so incredibly bright
原因之一是,伽玛射线爆发的简直难以置信的亮度
is that they take an enormous amount of power,
携带着巨大的能量,
and then they focus that power into a very small portion of the sky.
接着集中那些能量进入非常小的空间.