宇宙（2007）

The Universe S01E08

Part 3 April 22, 2021, 8:12 p.m.

We can see features, clouds,eddies,
像木星上那样的巨大的条状物体
big plumes of materiallike we see on Jupiter.
可以看见其中的很多椭圆风暴
And we see these oval storms,lots of them,
实际上,在南半球的这个纬度段里
and in fact is one latitude in theSouthern hemisphere
有许多风暴
where lots of storms ziparound...
可以观测到他们的产生
disband, and we'vewatched them be created,
可以看到其中一些合并消失了
we've seen them die,they die by merging.
科学家们昵称之风暴巷道
Scientists nicknamed this area"Storm Alley",
有半个美国西边大
after a region in America's Midwest
造成剧烈气象
that produces violent weather.
相信这里也存在着闪电
It is believed there'slightning there,
不过目前还没有被发现
though no one has seen it.
是因为技术上的原因
And there's a technical reasonfor that,
闪电需要在黑夜中观察
to see the lightning you'dhave to get around on the night side,
因为闪电的亮度不是太大
and because the lightning **aren't all that bright,
必须在黑暗中观察
so you need the darkness.
但是土星的黑夜十分明亮
But the night side of Saturn is verybright because of all the ring light
由于土星光环
把土星夜晚照耀得如此明亮
that shines down on the nightside of Saturn and so...
要辨别云层中的闪电十分困难
it's very hard to sort the lightningfrom just puffy little clouds.
土星大气更是令人惊奇
The hellish weather on Saturnhas one more astounding surprise,
简直就是个怪物
and is a true monster.
某个土星奇异风暴
One of the freakiest stormson Saturn
南极上的飓风
was this hurricane-like thingthat they found down at the South pole.
风暴面♥积♥比美国还大
This storm is biggerthan the US.
而木星上的那个大红斑也是风暴
The great red spot on Jupiteris merely hurricane-like.
是个没有眼的风暴
That storm doesn'thave an eyewall.
然而,这个南极土星大风暴
However, the South pole storm
跟地球上的飓风特点一样
has the characteristicsof a terrestrial hurricane,
它有个眼
including an eyewall,
是地球外唯一的有眼风暴
making it the only such stormon another planet.
还不确切是否是跟地球上一样的飓风
It's not clear that it isa hurricane in every sense
不过目前从形态上来看
like we have here on Earth.But so far, the morphology of it
非常像一个地球飓风
looks very muchlike a hurricane.
这非常令人激动, 每个人都为之兴奋不已
That was very exciting, everyonegot very excited about that,
it even surprised us.
我们被震惊了
你可以从这个飓风眼中看过去就像在地球上那样
And you can see rightdown into the eye,
just as you can with ahurricane on Earth,
能看到土星大气中更多的气象
and they can see farther intoSaturn's atmosphere
这些一直经常发生的气象
than they've ever beenable to see before.
这真是土星之窗
So this thing is literally a windowinto Saturn.
很惊人的发现一些气象与地球上的十分相似
And it's amazing to see somethingso similar to Earth
我们可以对之做一些研究
on Saturn and then find out that we canactually do some science because of it.
南极大风暴据测有5000英里[8000千米]宽
The South pole storm measures5,000 across,
2/3个地球的直径大
that's 2/3 the diameter of the Earth.
如果一个极其强大的风暴产生于地球
If a hurricane that hugewere to form here,
距离跨越纽约到巴格达
it would cover a distance fromNew York city to Baghdad,
将摧毁这之间的一切
annihilating all in its path.
飓风围绕其中心的眼漩涡型旋转
It basically is a swirling vortex ofair that is centred around a hole,
就像围墙围着这个中心
and right at the centre,where with an eyewall around it.
还不知道是什么导致这么巨大的风暴
What powers this monster stormis still unknown.
土星的风暴比地球上强大很多
And the winds are strongeron Saturn than they are in Earth,
这真是一个迷
which is a puzzle in itself,because
土星受到的太阳能很低自身也没有释放多少能量
Saturn gets so little energy from eitherthe Sun or from its own inside.
风暴发生在南极中♥央♥而不是赤道附近
It's centred around the Southpole of Saturn rather than being
异于地球上的风暴
in the equatorial region, like ahurricane on Earth would be.
2007年初,现代图像采集技术
In early 2007, modern imagingtechnology
揭示了更多土星上令科学家们震惊的东西
revealed something else on Saturnthat astounded scientists.
我们对它兴趣更浓了
We see it very intensely now.
它如此大和奇怪
It's something big, something strange...
我从来没有在宇宙其他地方见过
and something never seenin the Universe before.
土星,太阳系中奇怪而又最美丽的行星
Saturn, the Solar System's mostbizarre yet beautiful planet
越来越充满了神秘
has just gotten evenmore mysterious.
1979年,先驱者号♥探测器
In 1979, the Voyager spacecraft
显示出土星北极的完美几何形状
showed a perfect geometricform over the North Pole.
2006年10月
In October 2006, the Cassini craftfound that it is still there.
卡西尼探测器发现它还在那儿
很奇怪它还在那儿,没有移♥动♥
It's just bizarre. It sits there kind ofstill, it doesn't move with the planet.
极地形似一个六边形
The Pole has a hexagonal feature,
6条边围绕着北极
a six-sided polygonthat encircles the pole
大约在北纬78度的位置
at about 78?North latitude,
特点就是,它一直固定在那儿
and it's sitting there asa set feature.
这六边形有点像地球上的极地漩涡
The hexagon is similarto Earth's polar vortex
长时间固定形状地在极地周围吹
which has winds blowing in acircular fashion around the pole.
土星漩涡大到可以塞下4个地球
Saturn's vortex can fit 4 Earthsinside of it,
在土星云层里延伸60英里深
and extends 60 miles deepinto Saturn's clouds.
非常奇怪的是航海者号♥发现一小片云在其中旋转
And what's more bizarre,Voyager saw little, tiny clouds
going around at about 100meters per second,
以200英里每小时[320千米每小时]的速度在六边形里旋转
which is about 200 mph,going around this racetrack.
专家认为,这只是一种短暂的现象
People thought, "Well, maybe they'rejust a temporary thing,
那儿的漩涡怎么形成的?
"how could this stay there?"
在那里持续了至少20年,这到底是什么?
It's stayed there now for at least 20years, and we're going, "What is this?"
如果在那儿,你钻进土星厚云层
If you go there you'regonna enter these thick clouds,
越深气体密度越大,大气压越强
and the deeper you go the moreintense the pressure's gonna get,
超过某个深度你会内爆
to a point when youjust implode.
你和你的太空船无法继续前进
You and your spacecraftcan't make it any farther.
目前,探测器环绕土星
For now, visits to Saturn's orbit arereserved for unmanned spacecrafts.
作为土星的人造卫星使用
这里至少已经有48颗天然卫星
But surrounding the planet areat least 48 moons.
冒险登陆某个卫星则具有可行性
Venturing to one of thoseis more feasible.
我们去土星的一个大兴趣点
What's interesting now that we'regoing to these planets,
是探索那些卫星们
is that we're learning thatin some ways
热闹的卫星大团聚
the moons are wherethe action is.
我们去过了其中的一个
We've already beento one of them.
Titan[土卫六]是除了月球外,唯一探索过的卫星
Titan is the only moon otherthan our own to have been explored.
这次探索意义非常重大
The event was beyond significant.
2005年1月14日
On January 14th, 2005,science-fiction became fact.
科幻成为了现实
作为正在土星执行的卡西尼任务的一部分
As part of the ongoing Cassinimission to Saturn,
惠更斯号♥无人探测器
the unmanned Huygens probe
降落到这个最大土星卫星表面
descended onto the surfaceof Saturn's biggest moon.
Titan[土卫六]星如其名有水星那么大
Titan lives up to its name.It is the size of the planet Mercury.
实际上是太阳系中第二大的卫星
In fact, it is the second largest moonin the Solar System.
比月球大一半
50% bigger than our Moon.
很多方面都吸引着人
It is seductive in many ways.
一方面, 土卫六非常像地球
For one, Titan looks muchlike Earth.
过程非常让我激动,
That was the thing that beatme over the head, just how...
逐渐接近土卫六的地面的过程
remarkably similar in processthe surface of Titan looked.
看见的河流,湖床,还有风
We have river channels thatfeed into these lake beds,
we have winds.
来另个区域又看见了沙丘
And then in other areaswe have dunes.
在土卫六的赤道地区
The equator region of Titan,
收到了质量很高的雷达图像
at least on one side where we've gottengood radar imagery,
数百个隔着数百英里的沙丘
has hundreds and hundreds of milesof these dunes,
沙丘有几百米高,分别隔着几英里
that are hundreds of meters high,several miles apart,
简直就是沙丘海洋
and they just go on,this vast sea of dunes.
也许是固体碳氢化合物颗粒堆积成的
There are possibly depositsof solid hydro-carbons.
只有等探测器降落下去了
And we didn't really know untilthat probe landed
whether it was gonna hitliquid or some solid surface.
才知道到底是降落在液态还是固态地表上
看起来像掉到了布丁上
It seemed to kind of fall onwhat looks like a kind of pudding,
既不是液态也不是固态
it doesn't seem to beliquid or solid.
土卫六的表面似乎附着一些粘稠物质
It seems that Titan has somegoo on the surface.
既不是陆地也不是海
That's almost kind ofneither land nor sea,
而是介于其间的,非常令人惊讶
but something in between.That's very amazing.
Amazingly, Titan, like Earth,has an extended atmosphere.
惊奇的是, 土卫六像地球一样有着大气
太阳系没有其他任何卫星有大气
No other moon doesin our Solar System.
土卫六大气很浓密很厚
The atmosphere of Titan isvery, very thick and massive.
是地球大气的10倍质量
It has a mass that's 10 timesthe mass of the Earth's atmosphere.
这是一层非常非常厚的气体
So you have a very thick layer of gases,thicker than the air as we know it.
比其他我们所知道的大气都要厚
大气中的微粒十分小
The particles in the airare also very small,
使得看起来比较模糊
so I would characterize them moreas a haze than as a fog or clouds.
像雾或者云那样
雾有200英里[320千米]厚完全不同与地球上的云
The haze is 200 miles thickresembling something else on Earth.
从外面看上去像一个完全不透明的大桔子
From the outside, it appears essentiallyopaque, like a big, orange ball.