I'm talking about billowing pillars of dust extending over a BILLION kilometers in size.

我說的是波浪形的塵埃柱，其大小超過十億公里。

But with all this cosmic dust floating around, how exactly do orbiting observatories, like the James Webb Space Telescope,

但是，在所有這些宇宙塵埃漂浮的情況下，像詹姆斯-韋伯太空望遠鏡這樣的軌道觀測站究竟是如何做到的。

actually see through it?

其實是看透了？

Alright, first let's go over the basics of what cosmic dust actually is.

好吧，首先讓我們來看看宇宙塵究竟是什麼的基本情況。

In contrast to your typical household dust bunnies,

與你典型的家庭塵土飛揚的兔子相比。

cosmic dust is a collection of extremely tiny solid matter particles drifting around in space.

宇宙塵埃是在太空中漂移的極其微小的固體物質顆粒的集合。

And I mean really, really, really small.

我的意思是真的，真的，真的很小。

Like just a few molecules across.

就像只有幾個分子的距離。

You may be wondering: how much dust is there in the universe...

你可能想知道：宇宙中到底有多少塵埃...

and where did it even come from?!

和它甚至從哪裡來的？

So here's the thing—astronomers don't exactly know the answers to these questions.

所以事情是這樣的--天文學家們並不完全知道這些問題的答案。

BUT they do know that around 4,700 metric tons of dust falls onto Earth every year.

但他們確實知道，每年有大約4700公噸的灰塵落到地球上。

And they know that supernovas played a huge part in its production and distribution.

而且他們知道，超新星在其產生和分佈中發揮了巨大作用。

When Sun-like stars collapse and explode as a supernova,

當類似太陽的恆星坍塌並作為超新星爆炸時。

the combined garble of elements contained in their dense cores are expelled into the universe.

其密集的核心所包含的元素的組合亂碼被驅逐到宇宙中。

These elements include helium, carbon, oxygen...and even iron in bigger stars.

這些元素包括氦、碳、氧......在較大的恆星中甚至還有鐵。

Together, they form molecular clouds, with heavier elements like iron and silicon combining with oxygen to form minerals.

它們一起形成了分子云，較重的元素如鐵和硅與氧氣結合，形成礦物。

Those tiny mineral grains are what we refer to as…*ding, ding, ding* dust!

那些細小的礦物顆粒就是我們所說的......*丁、丁、丁*塵埃!

And this dust will never disappear because it's an essential key to planet and star formation.

而這些塵埃將永遠不會消失，因為它是行星和恆星形成的一個重要關鍵。

Once dust is expelled from a star, it can travel to another part of the universe, create another star,

一旦塵埃被從一顆恆星中排出，它就可以前往宇宙的另一個地方，創造另一顆恆星。

and at the end of that star's life, get expelled again.

並在該明星的生命結束時，再次被驅逐。

And so the cycle of dust distribution continues.

就這樣，灰塵分佈的循環繼續進行。

Unfortunately, this recycled cosmic dust is often in the way for astronomers making their observations.

不幸的是，這些回收的宇宙塵埃常常妨礙天文學家進行觀測。

Because you see...cosmic dust particles are similar in size to shorter wavelengths of light,

因為你看......宇宙塵埃顆粒的大小與較短波長的光相似。

like blue light, they have the ability to absorb or scatter those wavelengths.

如藍光，它們有吸收或散射這些波長的能力。

Whereas longer wavelengths of light, like red light, pass directly through dust clouds—

而較長波長的光，如紅光，則直接穿過塵埃雲--

an effect known as Interstellar Reddening.

一種被稱為星際紅化的效果。

All the light that gets absorbed or scattered by the dust clouds makes stars tucked behind them seem more red and faint.

所有被塵埃雲吸收或散射的光線使藏在塵埃雲後面的恆星看起來更紅、更暗。

This means that the average human eye looking through a regular old telescope is no match for a dust cloud...

這意味著普通人的眼睛通過一個普通的老式望遠鏡觀察，是無法與塵埃雲相比的...

since most of the light reaching that telescope will be outside the visible light spectrum.

因為到達該望遠鏡的大部分光線將在可見光光譜之外。

For many years this limited what astronomers could observe until William Herschel discovered infrared light in 1800,

多年來，這限制了天文學家的觀察範圍，直到威廉-赫歇爾在1800年發現了紅外光。

opening a world of possibilities.

打開了一個充滿可能性的世界。

Modern observatories are utilizing the longer infrared wavelengths to see beyond the naked eye and through dust.

現代天文臺正在利用較長的紅外波長來觀察肉眼以外的地方，並透過灰塵。

Observatories have even found water and other organic molecules on asteroids!

觀測站甚至在小行星上發現了水和其他有機分子!

But now astronomers want to see in even greater detail.

但現在天文學家希望看到更多的細節。

And this is where the James Webb Space Telescope comes into play.

而這正是詹姆斯-韋伯太空望遠鏡發揮作用的地方。

Webb can observe even longer infrared wavelengths and when paired with its advanced detectors,

韋伯可以觀測更長的紅外波長，當與它的先進探測器配對時，可以觀測到更長的紅外波長。

this observatory can analyze a much wider range of light than observatories before it.

這個天文臺可以分析比它之前的天文臺更廣泛的光。

But Webb will be doing more than just looking through the dust, it might be able to help solve one major dust-related problem

但韋伯將做的不僅僅是透過塵埃看問題，它也許能夠幫助解決一個與塵埃有關的主要問題

called the “dust budget crisis.”

被稱為 "灰塵預算危機"。

This is the inability to account for all the dust found throughout the universe.

這就是無法解釋整個宇宙中發現的所有塵埃。

Webb will be working with JAXA to observe infrared light from Wolf-Rayet stars that help count it.

韋伯將與日本宇宙航空研究開發機構合作，觀察來自幫助計數的Wolf-Rayet恆星的紅外光。

Wolf-Rayet Stars are super massive stars at a very late stage of stellar life.

狼射線型恆星是處於恆星生命後期的超級大品質恆星。

When observed in infrared light, they've been seen releasing dust in a pinwheel pattern.

當用紅外光觀察時，人們看到它們以針輪的形式釋放出塵埃。

Like this one named WR 112, which astronomers call "a highly efficient dust factory.”

比如這個名為WR 112的，天文學家稱之為 "一個高效的塵埃工廠"。

It's capable of producing the Earths' mass of dust in just one year!

它能夠在短短一年內產生相當於地球品質的塵埃!

Once Webb takes to the skies, it'll be able to observe the chemical signatures produced from Wolf-Rayet stars

一旦韋伯進入天空，它將能夠觀察到來自狼射線恆星產生的化學特徵。

that could provide us with a better understanding of not only early planet formation,

這不僅可以為我們提供對早期行星形成的更好理解。

but also how the universe got so dusty.

但也是宇宙如何變得如此多塵。

Astronomers have come a long way in their quest to probe the dusty closet that is our universe,

天文學家在探索我們的宇宙這個塵封的壁櫥的過程中已經取得了很大的進展。

and the hope is that James Webb will help clear the skies for many more years of space discovery.

希望詹姆斯-韋伯將有助於為更多年的空間發現清理天空。

If you love space as much as I do, be sure to subscribe to Seeker for all your latest updates

如果你和我一樣熱愛太空，請務必訂閱Seeker，瞭解所有的最新資訊

and check out this video here.

並在此查看這個視頻。

Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you next time.

非常感謝您的觀看，我們下次再見。