返回首页

MikeBrown_2019S-_探索太阳系的第九大行星_-
In 1820, French astronomer Alexis Bouvard almost became the second person in human history to discover a planet. 1820 年,法国天文学家 阿列西·布瓦尔（Alexis Bouvard） 差点成为了人类历史上 第二个发现行星的人。
astronomer:n.天文学家; second person:n.第二人称;
He'd been tracking the position of Uranus across the night sky using old star catalogs , and it didn't quite go around the Sun the way that his predictions said it should. 他当时在用原始的星表 追踪夜间天王星 划过天空的位置, 然而天王星并没有像他预测的那样 围绕着太阳转。
tracking:n.追踪,跟踪;v.跟踪;(track的现在分词) Uranus:n.[天]天王星; catalogs:n.[图情][计]目录; v.把…编目分类; predictions:n.预测,预言(prediction复数形式);
Sometimes it was a little too fast, sometimes a little too slow. 有时,它转得有点太快了, 有时,又转得有点太慢。
Bouvard knew that his predictions were perfect. 布瓦尔知道他的预测是完美的,
So it had to be that those old star catalogs were bad. 因此这一定是陈旧星表的 不准确性所导致的。
He told astronomers of the day, "Do better measurements ." 那天,他跟天文学家们说, “做更好的测量。”
astronomers:天文学家; measurements:n.测量值,尺寸(measurement的复数);
So they did. 于是他们照做了。
Astronomers spent the next two decades meticulously tracking the position of Uranus across the sky, but it still didn't fit Bouvard's predictions. 天文学家们花费了将近 20 年, 一丝不苟的追踪 天王星划过天空的轨迹, 但是结果仍然 和布瓦尔的预测不一样。
meticulously:adv.细致地;一丝不苟地;拘泥地;
By 1840, it had become obvious . 直到 1840 年,事情变得很明显:
obvious:adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的;
The problem was not with those old star catalogs, the problem was with the predictions. 问题不是出在那些陈旧的星表上, 而是在于那些预测。
And astronomers knew why. 同时,天文学家们 知道这是为什么。
They realized that there must be a distant , giant planet just beyond the orbit of Uranus that was tugging along at that orbit, sometimes pulling it along a bit too fast, sometimes holding it back. 他们意识到, 一定是有一个遥远的巨大行星, 刚好在天王星轨道的后面, 影响着天王星的运行速度。 有时推着它,导致它移动得太快, 有时又会拽住它, 减慢它的运行速度。
distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的; giant:n.巨人;伟人;巨兽;adj.巨大的;特大的 orbit:n.轨道;眼眶;势力范围;生活常规;vi.盘旋;绕轨道运行;vt.绕…轨道而行; tugging:n.牵引感;v.用力拉(tug的ing形式);
Must have been frustrating back in 1840 to see these gravitational effects of this distant, giant planet but not yet know how to actually find it. 回到 1840 年,科学家一定很崩溃, 因为你能看到这些 相距遥远的巨行星重力效应, 却还不知道如何找到它。
frustrating:adj.令人沮丧的;v.使沮丧;(frustrate的现在分词) gravitational:adj.[力]重力的,[力]引力的;
Trust me, it's really frustrating. 相信我,这真的很让人崩溃。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But in 1846, another French astronomer, 但是到了 1846 年, 另外一个法国天文学家
Urbain Le Verrier, worked through the math and figured out how to predict the location of the planet. 奥本·勒维耶（Urbain Le Verrier）, 通过数学计算, 找到了如何预测行星位置的方法。
location:n.地方;地点;位置;定位
He sent his prediction to the Berlin observatory , they opened up their telescope and in the very first night they found this faint point of light slowly moving across the sky and discovered Neptune . 他把他的预测结果发给了柏林天文台, 他们打开了望远镜, 然后就在第一天晚上, 观测到了一个很微弱的光点, 缓慢的从天空划过, 然后发现了天王星。
observatory:n.天文台;气象台;瞭望台; telescope:n.望远镜;v.(使)叠套缩短;精简; faint:n.昏厥;v.昏厥;adj.昏眩;(光,声,味)微弱的;微小的;可能性不大的; Neptune:n.海王星;海神;
It was this close on the sky to Le Verrier's predicted location. 它的位置和勒维耶的预测结果 在天空中就只差这么一点。
predicted:v.预言;预告;预报;(predict的过去分词和过去式)
The story of prediction and discrepancy and new theory and triumphant discoveries is so classic and Le Verrier became so famous from it, that people tried to get in on the act right away . 这段关于预测、区别、新理论 以及成功发现的故事堪称经典, 勒维耶也因此成名, 那些试图进入该领域的人 也立马行动了起来。
discrepancy:n.不符;矛盾;相差; triumphant:adj.成功的;得意洋洋的;狂欢的; classic:n.名著;优秀的典范;adj.最优秀的;第一流的;有代表性的;典型的; right away:立刻;
In the last 163 years, dozens of astronomers have used some sort of alleged orbital discrepancy to predict the existence of some new planet in the solar system . 在过去的 163 年里, 数十位天文学家 利用所谓的轨道偏差, 来预测太阳系中是否存在新行星。
alleged:adj.宣称的;涉嫌的;v.断言,指称,声称;(allege的过去分词和过去式) orbital:adj.轨道的;眼窝的; solar system:[天]太阳系;
They have always been wrong. 但他们的预测 却一直出现各种问题。
The most famous of these erroneous predictions came from Percival Lowell, who was convinced that there must be a planet just beyond Uranus and Neptune, messing with those orbits . 最有名的一个错误预测 来自于帕西瓦尔·罗威尔 （Percival Lowell）, 他坚信,在天王星和海王星后, 一定还有一个行星, 在干扰那些轨道。
erroneous:adj.错误的;不正确的; convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式) messing:v.使不整洁;弄脏;弄乱;随地便溺;(mess的现在分词) orbits:n.[天][航]轨道(orbit的复数); v.环绕…的轨道运行;
And so when Pluto was discovered in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory, everybody assumed that it must be the planet that Lowell had predicted. 因此在 1930 年冥王星被发现于 洛厄尔天文台时, 所有人都以为,那颗行星 一定就是罗威尔曾预测的那颗。
Pluto:n.冥王;冥王星; assumed:adj.假定的;假设的;v.假定;假设;认为;承担;(assume的过去分词和过去式)
They were wrong. 但他们错了。
It turns out, Uranus and Neptune are exactly where they're supposed to be. 结果表明,天王星和海王星 就在它们应该在的地方。
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式)
It took 100 years, but Bouvard was eventually right. 这件事花费了 100 年的时间, 但是最终,人们发现布瓦尔是对的。
eventually:adv.最后,终于;
Astronomers needed to do better measurements. 天文学家们需要做更好的测量。
And when they did, those better measurements had turned out that there is no planet just beyond the orbit of Uranus and Neptune and Pluto is thousands of times too small to have any effect on those orbits at all. 他们这么做了之后, 那些更好的测量表明, 在天王星和海王星的轨道后面 并没有行星的出现, 并且冥王星的体积 比预测的要小几千倍, 以至于对那些轨道 不会产生任何影响。
So even though Pluto turned out not to be the planet it was originally thought to be, it was the first discovery of what is now known to be thousands of tiny, icy objects in orbit beyond the planets. 因此,尽管冥王星后来被证实 并非本意想要预测的那颗行星, 但这是目前对在已知行星外轨道上 存在的数千个微小的 结冰天体（柯伊伯带）的首次发现。
originally:adv.原来;起初;
Here you can see the orbits of Jupiter , 这里你可以看到木星、
Jupiter:n.[天]木星;朱庇特(罗马神话中的宙斯神);
Saturn , Uranus and Neptune, and in that little circle in the very center is the Earth and the Sun and almost everything that you know and love. 土星、天王星和海王星的轨道, 以及在那个小圆圈里, 最中间的地方就是地球, 和太阳,以及所有 你知道并喜爱的一切。
Saturn:n.[天]土星;农业之神(罗马神话中的一个形象);
And those yellow circles at the edge are these icy bodies out beyond the planets. 那些边缘发黄的圈, 是在行星外围的结冰天体。
These icy bodies are pushed and pulled by the gravitational fields of the planets in entirely predictable ways. 这些结冰天体 会因为行星的重力场, 按照完全可预测的方式被推拉。
predictable:adj.可预言的;
Everything goes around the Sun exactly the way it is supposed to. 所有的行星基本上都在 以它们该有的方式
Almost. 围绕着太阳转。
So in 2003, 在 2003 年,
I discovered what was at the time the most distant known object in the entire solar system. 我发现了 当时在太阳系中探测到 的最遥远的已知天体。
It's hard not to look at that lonely body out there and say, oh yeah, sure, so Lowell was wrong, there was no planet just beyond Neptune, but this, this could be a new planet. 很难忽视远方那颗孤独的天体, 然后说,是的, 罗威尔错了, 海王星之外并没有其他行星, 但这一颗——这一颗可能是新的行星。
The real question we had was, what kind of orbit does it have around the Sun? 我们真正要问的是, 它以什么样的轨道围绕着太阳转？
Does it go in a circle around the Sun like a planet should? 它是否就像其他行星一样 绕着太阳以圆形的轨道旋转？
Or is it just a typical member of this icy belt of bodies that got a little bit tossed outward and it's now on its way back in? 还是就像冰带中 其他典型的结冰天体一样, 只是先前不小心被抛出去了, 现在在回归原轨道的路上？
typical:adj.典型的;特有的;象征性的; belt:n.皮带;腰带;传动带;传送带;v.猛击;狠打;飞奔;飞驰; tossed:v.扔,抛,掷;甩;(使)摇摆,挥动,颠簸;(toss的过去分词和过去式) outward:n.外表; adj.表面的; v.同"outwards.outwardandhomeward";
This is precisely the question the astronomers were trying to answer about Uranus 200 years ago. 这正是在 200 年前, 天文学家在研究天王星时 努力想要解答的问题。
They did it by using overlooked observations of Uranus to figure out its entire orbit. 他们是利用在发现天王星的 91 年前 从而找到它的整个轨道的。
overlooked:n.被忽视;v.忽视(overlook的过去式和过去分词形式);忽略;俯瞰; observations:n.观察,观察值;观察结果;(observation的复数形式);
We couldn't go quite that far back, that allowed us to figure out how it went around the Sun. 我们无法追溯回那么早的资料, 这些资料让我们弄清了 它是如何绕太阳转的。
So the question is, is it in a circular orbit around the Sun, like a planet, or is it on its way back in, like one of these typical icy bodies? 那么问题是, 它是像行星一样 在圆形的轨道上绕着太阳转呢, 还是像那些结冰天体一样 在回程途中？
circular:adj.圆形的; n.(同时送达很多人的)印刷信函(或通知、广告);
And the answer is no. 答案是, 皆非。
It has a massively elongated orbit that takes 10,000 years to go around the Sun. 它拥有非常巨大的椭圆轨道, 使它绕太阳一周需要一万年的时间。
massively:adv.大量地;沉重地;庄严地; elongated:adj.细长的;v.(使)变长;拉长;(elongate的过去分词和过去式)
We named this object Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the sea, in honor of the cold, icy places where it spends all of its time. 我们将这个天体 命名为塞德娜（Sedna）, 是因纽特人海洋女神的名字, 以致敬它一生都在冰冻的环境中。
Inuit:n.因纽特人(加拿大北部以及格陵兰和阿拉斯加部分地区的一个种族的人,有时误指西伯利亚及阿拉斯加南部和西部的人);
We now know that Sedna, it's about a third the size of Pluto and it's a relatively typical member of those icy bodies out beyond Neptune. 我们现在知道塞德娜的体积 约是冥王星的三分之一, 且是海王星外的那些结冰天体中, 相对比较典型的一个天体。
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地;
Relatively typical, except for this bizarre orbit. 相对比较典型, 但不包括它的奇特的轨道。
bizarre:adj.奇异的(指态度,容貌,款式等);
You might look at this orbit and say, "Yeah, that's bizarre, 10,000 years to go around the Sun," 你看着这个轨道可能会说, “绕着太阳能走一万年确实很奇特”,
but that's not really the bizarre part. 但这还不是它奇特的地方,
The bizarre part is that in those 10,000 years, 奇特的是,在那一万年中,
Sedna never comes close to anything else in the solar system. 塞德娜完全不接近 太阳系中的任何其他东西。
Even at its closest approach to the Sun, 即使是在它离太阳最近的位置,
approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理;
Sedna is further from Neptune than Neptune is from the Earth. 塞德娜和海王星的距离 也比海王星和地球之间的距离更远。
If Sedna had had an orbit like this, that kisses the orbit of Neptune once around the Sun, that would have actually been really easy to explain. 假如塞德娜有这样的轨道: 绕行太阳一圈就会和 海王星的轨道接触一次, 那这就很容易解释了。
That would have just been an object that had been in a circular orbit around the Sun in that region of icy bodies, had gotten a little bit too close to Neptune one time, and then got slingshot out and is now on its way back in. 那它就是在结冰天体 的区域中以圆形轨道 绕行太阳的天体, 有一瞬间太靠近海王星, 因此被弹了出去, 现在正在返回的途中。
region:n.地区;范围;部位; slingshot:n.弹弓;
But Sedna never comes close to anything known in the solar system that could have given it that slingshot. 但是塞德娜从未接近过 太阳系中任何已知的东西, 不可能造成那样的弹射。
Neptune can't be responsible , but something had to be responsible. 既然不是海王星造成的, 那一定有别的原因。
responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的;
This was the first time since 1845 that we saw the gravitational effects of something in the outer solar system and didn't know what it was. 这是自 1845 年以来 我们第一次看到了在外太阳系的 某个东西产生了重力效应, 但不知道它是什么。
outer:adj.外面的,外部的;远离中心的;n.环外命中;
I actually thought I knew what the answer was. 我曾经以为自己知道答案。
Sure, it could have been some distant, giant planet in the outer solar system, but by this time, that idea was so ridiculous and had been so thoroughly discredited that I didn't take it very seriously. 的确,它有可能是外太阳系一颗 很遥远的巨大行星, 但在这个情况中,这个想法很荒谬, 完全不足为信, 所以我没有很严肃的对待它。
ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的; thoroughly:adv.彻底地,完全地; discredited:adj.不足信的; v.败坏(或破坏)…的名声;
But 4.5 billion years ago, when the Sun formed in a cocoon of hundreds of other stars, any one of those stars could have gotten just a little bit too close to Sedna and perturbed it onto the orbit that it has today. 但在 45 亿年前, 当太阳在其它上百个天体的 包裹下形成时, 那些天体中的任何一个 都有可能太靠近塞德娜, 从而影响它, 让它进入现今的这个轨道中。
cocoon:n.茧;卵囊;vt.把…紧紧包住; perturbed:v.扰乱;使心慌(perturb的过去分词);adj.烦躁不安的;受扰动的;
When that cluster of stars dissipated into the galaxy , the orbit of Sedna would have been left as a fossil record of this earliest history of the Sun. 当那群天体消散在星系中, 塞德娜的轨道应该会变成 太阳最早期历史中 的化石记录。
cluster:n.群;簇;丛;串;vi.群聚;丛生;vt.使聚集;聚集在某人的周围; dissipated:adj.消散的; vt.消散; (dissipate的过去分词和过去式) galaxy:n.银河;[天]星系;银河系;一群显赫的人; fossil:n.化石;老人;老古董;adj.从地下发掘出来的;化石的;属于旧时代的;陈腐的;
I was so excited by this idea, by the idea that we could look at the fossil history of the birth of the Sun, that I spent the next decade looking for more objects with orbits like Sedna. 这个想法让我很兴奋, 这表示我们可以去研究 太阳诞生的化石历史, 于是我用接下来十年的时间, 去寻找更多有着 类似塞德娜轨道的天体。
In that ten-year period, I found zero. 在那十年间,我一个也没找到。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But my colleagues , Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard, did a better job, and they have now found several objects with orbits like Sedna, which is super exciting. 但我的同事,查理·楚基罗 和史考特·雪柏,有了些发现。 他们现在已经找到了 好几个轨道类似塞德娜的天体。 这非常令人兴奋。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
But what's even more interesting is that they found that all these objects are not only on these distant, elongated orbits, they also share a common value of this obscure orbital parameter that in celestial mechanics we call argument of perihelion. 但更让人激动的是, 他们发现,所有这些天体, 不仅是在遥远,椭圆形 的轨道上运行, 而且具有相同的复杂轨道参数特征。 在天体力学中, 我们把这个参数称为近日点幅角。
obscure:n.朦胧; adj.无名的; v.使模糊; parameter:n.参数;系数;参量; celestial:adj.天上的,天空的;n.神仙,天堂里的居民; mechanics:n.机械师;机械修理工;技工;力学;机械学;(mechanic的复数)
When they realized it was clustered in argument of perihelion, they immediately jumped up and down, saying it must be caused by a distant, giant planet out there, which is really exciting, except it makes no sense at all. 当他们发现那些特征参数 集聚在近日点幅角时, 因为他们认为一定有个 遥远的巨大行星存在。
clustered:adj.成群的;成簇的;v.群聚;聚集;(cluster的过去式和过去分词)
Let me try to explain it to you why with an analogy . 让我试着用一个比喻 来解释为什么。
analogy:n.类比;类推;类似;
Imagine a person walking down a plaza and looking 45 degrees to his right side. 试想,一个人走在广场上, 看向他右边 45 度的方向。
plaza:n.广场;市场,购物中心;
There's a lot of reasons that might happen, it's super easy to explain, no big deal. 这可能有很多理由, 很容易解释,不是什么大事儿。
Imagine now many different people, all walking in different directions across the plaza, but all looking 45 degrees to the direction that they're moving. 现在试想,有很多不同的人 都在广场上朝不同的方向走, 但都看向他们行进方向的 45 度角。
Everybody's moving in different directions, everybody's looking in different directions, but they're all looking 45 degrees to the direction of motion . 大家行进的方向不同, 大家看去的方向也不同, 但他们看去的 都是行进方向的 45 度处,
motion:n.动作;移动;手势;请求;意向;议案;v.运动;打手势;
What could cause something like that? 这个现象背后的原因会是什么？
I have no idea . 我不知道。
I have no idea:我没有头绪…;
It's very difficult to think of any reason that that would happen. 非常难想象出任何理由 会造成这个现象。
(Laughter) （笑声）
And this is essentially what that clustering in argument of perihelion was telling us. 基本上,这就是 一堆相近的近日点幅角
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; clustering:n.聚集,收集;分类归并;v.使成群(cluster的现在分词);
Scientists were generally baffled and they assumed it must just be a fluke and some bad observations. 科学家们很受挫, 他们认为一定是侥幸 和不佳的观测造成的。
generally:adv.通常;普遍地,一般地; baffled:adj.带有挡板的;v.阻碍;使迷惑(baffle的过去式); fluke:n.侥幸;锚爪;意外的挫折;vt.侥幸成功;意外受挫;vi.侥幸成功;
They told the astronomers, "Do better measurements." 他们告诉天文学家, “把观测做得更好一点”。
I actually took a very careful look at those measurements, though, and they were right. 我其实非常仔细地 研究过这些测量值, 但它们是对的。
These objects really did all share a common value of argument of perihelion, and they shouldn't. 这些天体真的都用 同样的近日点幅角值, 但是这不应该。
Something had to be causing that. 背后一定有原因。
The final piece of the puzzle came into place in 2016, when my colleague, Konstantin Batygin, who works three doors down from me, and I realized that the reason that everybody was baffled was because argument of perihelion was only part of the story. 谜团的最后一片出现在 2016 年, 当我和隔壁办公室的同事 康斯坦丁·巴蒂金意识到 大家之所以那么受挫 是因为近日点幅角只是 故事的一部分。
puzzle:n.谜;疑问;智力游戏;不解之谜;v.迷惑;使困惑;
If you look at these objects the right way, they are all actually lined up in space in the same direction, and they're all tilted in space in the same direction. 如果你用对的方式 来观察这些天体, 它们实际上在宇宙中 呈队列排布,并面朝同样的方向, 以同样的角度倾斜。
tilted:v.倾斜;使倾向于;偏向;(tilt的过去分词和过去式)
It's as if all those people on the plaza are all walking in the same direction and they're all looking 45 degrees to the right side. 就好像在广场上的那些人们 都朝向相同的方向行进, 并且他们都看向右边 45 度。
That's easy to explain. 这很容易解释。
They're all looking at something. 因为他们都在看向某个东西。
These objects in the outer solar system are all reacting to something. 在外太阳系的这些天体都 受到某个东西的影响。
reacting:v.起反应;(对…)作出反应;回应;(react的现在分词)
But what? 但那是什么呢？
Konstantin and I spent a year trying to come up with any explanation other than a distant, giant planet in the outer solar system. 我和康斯坦丁花了一年的时间, 尝试去找出一个不同的解释, 不同于在外太阳系中 有遥远且巨大行星的解释。
come up with:提出;想出;赶上;
We did not want to be the 33rd and 34th people in history to propose this planet to yet again be told we were wrong. 我们并不想要成为第 33 和 34 位 提出这个行星存在 又被告知弄错了的人。
propose:v.建议;提议;求婚;打算;
But after a year, there was really no choice. 但一年后, 真的没有别的选择。
We could come up with no other explanation other than that there is a distant, massive planet on an elongated orbit, inclined to the rest of the solar system, that is forcing these patterns for these objects in the outer solar system. 除了之前的那个解释, 我们想不出其他的解释了: 可能有个遥远的巨大行星 沿着椭圆的轨道运行, 倾斜向这个太阳系的其他部分, 从而被迫形成这些 外太阳系天体的模式。
inclined:adj.有…倾向; v.(使)倾向于,有…的趋势; (incline的过去分词和过去式)
Guess what else a planet like this does. 猜一下这样的行星还会做什么？
Remember that strange orbit of Sedna, how it was kind of pulled away from the Sun in one direction? 还记得塞德娜那奇特的轨道吗？ 那个轨道似乎被朝着 一个方向拉离太阳。
A planet like this would make orbits like that all day long . 这样的一个行星会 不分昼夜地产生那样的轨道。
all day long:"allday"的变体;整天;一整天;终日;
We knew we were onto something. 我们知道事情有些眉目了。
So this brings us to today. 这就把我们带到了今天。
We are basically 1845, Paris. 我们的处境基本上 就是 1845 年的巴黎。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
(Laughter) （笑声）
We see the gravitational effects of a distant, giant planet, and we are trying to work out the calculations to tell us where to look, to point our telescopes , to find this planet. 我们看到遥远的巨大行星 造成的重力效应, 于是我们试着计算出 望远镜应该转向的方向, 希望能找到这个行星。
telescopes:n.望远镜; v.套叠; (telescope的第三人称单数)
We've done massive suites of computer simulations , massive months of analytic calculations and here's what I can tell you so far. 我们做过大量的电脑模拟, 投入无数个月做分析计算, 目前我能告诉各位的是:
suites:n.套房;组曲;餐厅套件;[计]程序组(suite的复数); simulations:n.[计]模拟(simulation的复数);[计]仿真; analytic:adj.分析的;解析的;善于分析的;
First, this planet, which we call Planet Nine, because that's what it is, 首先,我们把这颗行星 称为第九行星, 因为它就是第九个。
Planet Nine is six times the mass of the Earth. 第九行星的质量是地球的 6 倍。
This is no slightly-smaller-than-Pluto, let's-all-argue-about- whether-it's-a-planet-or-not thing. 这并非“它比冥王星小一点, 争论一下它是不是行星”的情形。
This is the fifth largest planet in our entire solar system. 这是我们整个太阳系中 第五大的行星。
For context , let me show you the sizes of the planets. 我先让各位对比一下 这些行星的大小。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
In the back there, you can the massive Jupiter and Saturn. 在后方,你可以看到 巨大的木星和土星。
Next to them, a little bit smaller, Uranus and Neptune. 在它们旁边是稍小一点 的天王星和海王星。
Up in the corner, the terrestrial planets, Mercury , Venus , Earth and Mars . 在上面角落的是类地行星: 水星、金星、地球、火星。
terrestrial:adj.地球的;陆地的,[生物]陆生的;人间的;n.陆地生物;地球上的人; Mercury:n.[化]汞,水银;[天]水星;温度表;精神,元气; Venus:n.[天]金星;维纳斯(爱与美的女神); Mars:n.火星
You can even see that belt of icy bodies beyond Neptune, of which Pluto is a member, good luck figuring out which one it is. 你甚至可以看到 海王星外面的结冰带, 而且冥王星也是其中一员。 看看你们能不能分清谁是谁。
And here is Planet Nine. 这里是第九行星。
Planet Nine is big. 第九行星很大。
Planet Nine is so big, you should probably wonder why haven't we found it yet. 第九行星大到 你应该纳闷,为什么 我们还没有找到它。
Well, Planet Nine is big, but it's also really, really far away. 第九行星的确很大, 但它也非常、非常的远。
It's something like 15 times further away than Neptune. 它所在的位置可能 比海王星还要远十五倍。
And that makes it about 50,000 times fainter than Neptune. 这同时意味着它的亮度 比海王星还要微弱五万倍。
fainter:微弱的;无力的;模糊的(faint的比较级);
And also, the sky is a really big place. 此外,天空真的是一个很大的空间。
We've narrowed down where we think it is to a relatively small area of the sky, but it would still take us years to systematically cover the area of the sky with the large telescopes that we need to see something that's this far away and this faint. 我们已经把它的定位范围 缩小成天空中相对很小的一块区域。 但我们仍然要花数年的时间 才能系统性地覆盖到整个区域, 而且还得使用很大的望远镜 才能看到那么遥远,那么微弱的行星。
systematically:adv.有系统地;有组织地;
Luckily, we might not have to. 幸运的是,我们可能不用这么做。
Just like Bouvard used unrecognized observations of Uranus 就像布瓦尔使用
unrecognized:adj.未被承认的;未被认出的;未被认可的;
I bet that there are unrecognized images that show the location of Planet Nine. 我敢说一定有那些 未能识别出的影像 可以显示出第九行星的位置。
bet:n.打赌;赌注;预计;估计;v.下赌注(于);用…打赌;敢说;八成儿; images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数)
It's going to be a massive computational undertaking to go through all of the old data and pick out that one faint moving planet. 这势必要用到非常大量的计算 才能分析完所有的旧资料, 并挑出那一个亮度微弱的移动行星。
computational:adj.计算的; undertaking:n.事业;企业;保证;殡仪业;v.同意;担任;许诺;(undertake的现在分词)
But we're underway . 我们正在做这件事了,
underway:adj.进行中的;起步的;航行中的;n.[公路]水底通道;
And I think we're getting close. 并且我认为 我们离成功越来越近了。
So I would say, get ready. 所以,我要说的是,准备好。
We are not going to match Le Verrier's "make a prediction, have the planet found in a single night that close to where you predicted it" record. 我们并不是要追赶勒维耶的记录: “做一个预测, 第一个晚上就在离预测位置 不远处找到了行星”。
But I do bet that within the next couple of years some astronomer somewhere will find a faint point of light, slowly moving across the sky and triumphantly announce the discovery of a new, and quite possibly not the last, real planet of our solar system. 但我敢说,在接下来几年内, 某地的某个天文学家 会发现一个微弱的光点 缓慢的在天空中移动, 并得意洋洋地宣布 一颗新行星的发现, 而且可能还不是我们太阳系中 ·真实存在的最后一颗行星。
triumphantly:adv.成功地;耀武扬威地;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）