but the age of cartographers mapping our continents' shores and mountains has long since passed.

但製圖師繪製我們大陸海岸和山脈的時代早已過去。

Well, I have good news: there are still places that remain uncharted. You may just have to

好吧，我有一個好消息：還有一些地方還沒有被發現。你可能只需要

point your gaze upward to find them. And in fact, cosmographers recently revealed a massive

把你的目光指向上方去尋找它們。而事實上，宇宙學家最近揭示了一個巨大的...

wall of galaxies shockingly close by that was hidden from our view until now.

銀河之牆令人震驚地靠近我們，直到現在才被我們的視線所發現。

That's right, there are scientists called cosmographers, and like cartographers mapping

沒錯，有科學家被稱為宇宙學家，就像製圖師繪製地圖一樣。

out our planet, their goal is to map out the observable universe. From their findings we

他們的目標是繪製出可觀察到的宇宙。從他們的發現中，我們

can learn more about the structures that make up everything we can see and gain insights

可以瞭解更多關於構成我們所能看到的一切的結構，並獲得更多的見解。

into those features we can't see. You may think that stars and galaxies are

到那些我們看不到的特徵。你可能會認為恆星和星系都是

all scattered about randomly and in one sense you'd be right. On a large enough scale,

都是隨機分散的，從某種意義上說你是對的。在一個足夠大的範圍內。

the universe is uniformly spread out, and this is what's known as the cosmological

宇宙是均勻分佈的，這就是所謂的宇宙論。

principle. But as you zoom in, things start to become

原則。但隨著你的放大，事情開始變得。

more distinct. Stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters bunch up and form enormous structures,

更加鮮明。恆星、星系和星系團聚在一起，形成巨大的結構。

but the gravity of the stars is not what pulls them together. Rather it's that illusive

但恆星的引力並不是把它們拉在一起的原因。而是那虛幻的

and invisible stuff called dark matter that gives shape to the universe, so as we map

和不可見的東西，稱為暗物質， 給予宇宙的形狀，所以，當我們映射出，

it out, we'll be able to refine our understanding of the universe's makeup.

我們將能夠完善我們對宇宙構成的理解。

But cosmography isn't always as easy as pointing a telescope towards the sky and writing

但宇宙學並不總是像把望遠鏡指向天空，然後寫下這樣的文字那樣簡單。

down what you see. Sometimes, even massive structures are hidden from view.

下你所看到的。有時，即使是巨大的結構也會被隱藏起來。

Our own Milky Way's dusty center obscures whatever is behind it, an area of the sky

我們的銀河系的塵埃中心遮住了它後面的東西，這是天空中的一個區域。

above the South Pole that has been dubbed the “Zone of Avoidance.” Which is funny,

南極上空被稱為 "避風區"這很有趣

because the Zone of Avoidance is also what I've been calling places with people during

因為 "迴避區 "也是我在與人交往過程中的稱呼。

the pandemic. Some cosmographers were undaunted by the zone

的大流行。一些宇宙學家對這一區域毫不畏懼。

though, and they pulled out some clever tricks to peer into it. The universe is expanding

不過，他們拿出了一些聰明的招數來窺探它。宇宙正在膨脹

which means on the whole, galaxies should be moving away from us at a constant rate.

這意味著總體上，星系應該以恆定的速度遠離我們。

Using a catalog of the motions and distances of 18,000 galaxies called Cosmicflows-3, the

利用名為 "Cosmicflows-3 "的18,000個星系的運動和距離目錄。

scientists noticed that some galaxies were moving faster or slower than expected, and

科學家們注意到，一些星系的運動速度比預期的快或慢，並且

seemed to be drawn to something in the middle, something hidden in the Zone of Avoidance.

似乎被中間的某種東西所吸引，某種隱藏在迴避區的東西。

Something… big. Computer models revealed a wall made up of

一些... 大的東西計算機模型顯示了一堵由...

thousands of galaxies at least 600 million light-years deep and 1.4 billion light-years

千億星系

across, forming a bow shape over the southern hemisphere's sky.

橫，在南半球的上空形成弓形。

They have creatively dubbed this wall-like structure above the south pole the South Pole

他們創造性地將南極上方的這個牆狀結構稱為南極點

Wall, and not only is it enormous, it's one of the top-ten biggest structures ever observed,

牆，不僅巨大，而且是有史以來最大的十大建築之一。

it's also relatively close. It's 500 million light-years away, twice as close as a similarly

它的距離也比較近。它離我們有5億光年之遙，比類似的天體要近一倍

sized structure called the Sloan Great Wall. It's large enough and close enough that

大小的結構，稱為斯隆長城。它足夠大也足夠近

it actually affects the velocity of our own galaxy, contributing about 40km/s to the movement

它實際上影響了我們銀河系的速度，對我們的運動貢獻了大約40公里/秒的速度。

of the Milky Way. The South Pole Wall could in fact be even

銀河系的。南極牆實際上可能是甚至

larger than we think. It's curved shape allowed for a lot of it to fit within the

比我們想象的要大。它的彎曲形狀讓很多東西都能裝在裡面。

Cosmicflows-3 view, but it's possible that the wall extends beyond what we can see. We'd

宇宙流-3視圖，但它有可能是牆延伸超過我們能看到的。我們會

need a bigger map to know just where it ends. It's incredible that something so enormous

需要一張更大的地圖才能知道它的終點。這麼巨大的東西

was hiding just behind the dusty curtain of the Milky Way's center. Who knows what other

正躲在銀河系中心的塵幕後面。誰知道還有什麼

areas of the universe's map are obscured from view? It'll take better technology

宇宙地圖的某些區域被遮擋住了？這需要更好的技術

and more research to see the unseeable, which means if you feel that itch to be one of the

和更多的研究，以看到看不見的，這意味著，如果你覺得癢，成為其中的一個

next great explorers, now is the perfect time to look to the stars.

下一個偉大的探險家，現在是仰望星空的最佳時機。

Since the universe is so enormous, mapping out the whole thing is an enormous challenge.

由於宇宙是如此巨大，繪製出整個宇宙的地圖是一個巨大的挑戰。

So, some researchers have turned to an unlikely place for guidance: slime mold. Check out

是以，一些研究人員轉向了一個不太可能的地方尋求指導：粘液黴。查看

my video on how these communal creatures are showing us where to look for dark matter here.

我的視頻是關於這些公共生物是如何向我們展示在哪裡尋找暗物質的。

Do you have that drive to explore the universe? Let us know down in the comments. Don't

你有那種探索宇宙的動力嗎？請在評論中告訴我們。不要

forget to subscribe for more videos like this, and I'll see you next time on Seeker.

忘了訂閱更多這樣的視頻，我們下次在《求索者》見。