評(píng)論
打印
If you take 10,000 people at random, 9,999 have something in common: their interests in business lie on or near the Earth's surface.
如果你隨機(jī)挑選出10000個(gè)人，其中的9999個(gè)人會(huì)有如下共性：他們對(duì)商業(yè)的興趣顯而易見。
The odd one out is an astronomer, and I am one of that strange breed. My talk will be in two parts.
余下的那位怪人是天文學(xué)家，而我就是這個(gè)奇特物種中的一員。我的發(fā)言將分為兩部分。
I'll talk first as an astronomer, and then as a worried member of the human race.
首先作為一個(gè)天文學(xué)家發(fā)言，之后作為人類社會(huì)中憂心忡忡的一員。
But let's start off by remembering that Darwin showed how we're the outcome of four billion years of evolution.
讓我們首先回顧達(dá)爾文所指出的：我們?nèi)祟愔皇?0億年進(jìn)化的產(chǎn)物。
And what we try to do in astronomy and cosmology is to go back before Darwin's simple beginning, to set our Earth in a cosmic context.
我們進(jìn)行天文學(xué)和宇宙學(xué)研究要做的，就是回溯到達(dá)爾文的理論原點(diǎn)，將我們的地球置于宇宙的背景中。
And let me just run through a few slides. This was the impact that happened last week on a comet.
請(qǐng)?jiān)试S我展示幾張圖片。這是發(fā)生在上周的一次撞擊彗星實(shí)驗(yàn)。
If they'd sent a nuke, it would have been rather more spectacular than what actually happened last Monday.
倘若他們發(fā)射的是顆核彈的話，其景象將會(huì)更加壯觀。圖片顯示的是上周一的實(shí)景。
So that's another project for NASA. That's Mars from the European Mars Express, and at New Year.
那是NASA（美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局）的又一個(gè)項(xiàng)目。這張是在新年時(shí)由歐洲“火星快車號(hào)”探測(cè)器拍到的火星。
This artist's impression turned into reality when a parachute landed on Titan, Saturn's giant moon.
藝術(shù)家的創(chuàng)想變成了現(xiàn)實(shí)，當(dāng)一個(gè)著陸裝置降落在土星的巨大的衛(wèi)星泰坦（土衛(wèi)六）上。
It landed on the surface. This is pictures taken on the way down. That looks like a coastline.
它降落在土衛(wèi)六的表面。這張圖片拍攝于著陸途中。那些看起來像是海岸線。
It is indeed, but the ocean is liquid methane -- the temperature minus 170 degrees centigrade.
它們確實(shí)是，但“海洋”是液態(tài)的甲烷 - 溫度是零下170攝氏度。
If we go beyond our solar system, we've learned that the stars aren't twinkly points of light.
如果我們放眼到太陽系之外，我們已經(jīng)知道恒星并不是不斷眨眼的光點(diǎn)。
Each one is like a sun with a retinue of planets orbiting around it. And we can see places where stars are forming, like the Eagle Nebula.
每一顆恒星都像太陽，伴有若干行星環(huán)繞。我們可以看到恒星形成的區(qū)域像天鷹星云（M16）。
We see stars dying. In six billion years, the sun will look like that.
我們還能看到衰竭的恒星。六十億年后，太陽將變成這樣。
And some stars die spectacularly in a supernova explosion, leaving remnants like that.
有些恒星在壯觀的超新星爆發(fā)中消亡，遺留下這樣的殘余。
