Hold your hand up 12 inches from your face: you're seeing your hand as it was a nanosecond

把你的手舉到離你的臉12英寸的地方：你看到的是你的手，因為它是一納秒。

ago.

前。

Everything you look at is, to one degree or another, in the past.

你所看的一切，或多或少都是過去的事。

The farther away in space, the more ancient in time.

空間越遠，時間越古老。

You can't see the Sun as it is now, but you can see it as it was about 8 minutes ago.

你看不到太陽現在的樣子，但你可以看到8分鐘前的樣子。

You can't see Alpha Centauri now, but you can see it 4.4 years ago.

你現在看不到半人馬座阿爾法星，但你可以看到它4.4年前。

You see the Andromeda Galaxy as it was 2.5 million years in the past.

你看到的仙女座星系是250萬年前的樣子。

And so on.

等等。

With powerful telescopes, we can see galaxies whose light has been traveling to us for more

通過強大的望遠鏡，我們可以看到星系，它們的光已經向我們傳播了更多的時間。

than 13 billion years.

超過130億年。

We see them shining in a universe that's still young, where gravity has barely begun

我們看到它們在一個還很年輕的宇宙中閃耀，那裡的引力才剛剛開始。

to pull matter together into stars and galaxies.

將物質拉攏到恆星和星系中。

But we can see something even more distant, and more ancient, than the first galaxies.

但我們可以看到比第一個星系更遙遠，更古老的東西。

If we peer out far enough, in between the galaxies, we can see parts of the Universe

如果我們在星系之間足夠遠的地方觀察，我們可以看到宇宙的一部分

that are so far away, it has taken the light from that distance very nearly the entire

在如此遙遠的地方，它已經採取了從該距離的光非常幾乎整個。

age of the cosmos to reach us.

宇宙的年齡到達我們。

When we look at the most distant parts of the cosmos, in every direction, we see parts

當我們看宇宙最遙遠的部分，在每一個方向，我們看到的是部分。

of the Universe that are so far in the past, they're still in the final stages of the

的宇宙，它們還處於最後的階段。

Big Bang.

大爆炸。

So far away, so far back, the space is completely filled with a dense, roiling plasma, the fire

那麼遠的地方，那麼遠的後方，空間完全被濃郁的、漫天的等離子體所充斥，火

of creation.

的創造。

We are not the center of the Universe.

我們不是宇宙的中心。

But we are the center of our own perception as light reaches us from afar; we lie embedded

但我們是我們自己感知的中心，因為光從遠處到達我們，我們躺在嵌入的

in nesting-doll layers of cosmic time.

在宇宙時間的嵌套娃娃層中。

Each concentric sphere is an era.

每一個同心球都是一個時代。

We can see the structure of matter changing, like geological strata all around us

我們可以看到物質結構的變化，就像我們周圍的地質地層一樣。

The most distant layer of time that we can see is the light that has been traveling since

我們所能看到的最遙遠的一層時間，是光自。

the moment the primordial fire began to cool.

在原始之火開始冷卻的那一刻。

The cosmic microwave background surrounds us at every edge of our vision.

宇宙微波背景環繞在我們視野的每一個邊緣。

We are embedded in shells of cosmic time, and the final one is fire.

我們嵌在宇宙時間的殼裡，最後一個是火。

Thanks to Katie Mack, aka astrokatie, for collaborating with me on this twitter-thread-inspired

感謝Katie Mack, aka astrokatie, 與我合作，在這個twitter線程的啟發下，為我提供了一個新的機會。

video poem.

視頻詩。

Now, if you've ever wondered how we can know things like how far away distant stars

如果你想知道我們是怎麼知道的 比如遙遠的恆星有多遠

and galaxies are, Brilliant.org, this video's sponsor, has an interactive course on just

和星系是，Brilliant.org，這個視頻的贊助商，有一個互動課程，只是

that, exploring trigonometric parallax, standard candles, supernova, and more.

那，探索三角視差、標準燭、超新星等。

Or if you want a small daily dose of science, Brilliant has a short problem of the day,

或者如果你想每天來點小科普，《輝煌》也有今天的短題。

every day, that gives you just enough background information to figure out a math or science

每天都會給你提供足夠的背景資料，讓你搞清楚一個數學或科學的問題。

puzzle; in fact, here's one about measuring the distance to the stars!

謎題；其實，這裡有一個關於測量星空距離的謎題!

You can sign up for free at brilliant.org/minutephysics, and the first 200 people will also get 20%

你可以在 brilliant.org/minutephysics 上免費註冊，前 200 人還將獲得 20% 的優惠。

off an annual premium subscription with full access to all of Brilliant's courses and

折扣年費訂閱，可享受所有Brilliant的課程和。

puzzles.

拼圖。

Again, that's brilliant.org/minutephysics.

同樣，這就是輝煌.org/分鐘物理學。