In 2018, it launched the Parker Solar Probe, which is swooping to within 6.2 million kilometers of the Sun's surface, the closest we've ever been.

2018 年，NASA 發射了派克太陽探測器，該探測器正俯衝到距離太陽表面 620 萬公里的範圍內，這是我們迄今為止距離太陽表面最近的一次。

But what if we wanted an even closer look?

但如果我們想更近距離觀察呢？

Our first stop gets pretty hot.

我們的第一站就會很熱。

At seven million to ten million kilometers above the sun's surface, we reach the corona, the outermost layer of the sun.

在太陽表面 700 萬至 1000 萬公里的上方，我們會到達日冕，也就是太陽的最外層。

It blazes at one million degrees Celsius, nearly 900 times as hot as lava.

它以 100 萬攝氏度的溫度發熱，相當於熔岩溫度近 900 倍。

And it's tens of thousands of times brighter here than on Earth.

而且它的亮度是比照射到地球上的數萬倍。

Now, the probe's heat shield works like a very good mirror, reflecting 99.9% of the incoming light.

現在，探測器的熱防護罩就像一面質量很好的鏡子一樣，能夠反射 99.9% 的射入光。

But we'll need something even better as we get closer.

但要想更靠近的話，這些還遠遠不夠。

At about 3,000 kilometers above the surface, we reach the chromosphere, the second layer of the sun.

在距離表面約 3000 公里的地方，我們會到達色球，也就是第二層的太陽。

See that massive plume?

看到那個強烈的氣流了嗎？

That's called a solar prominence.

它被稱為日珥。

These loops of gas are suspended by a powerful magnetic field and stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers beyond the sun.

強大的磁場使這些循環氣體懸浮，並延伸到太陽外數萬公里的範圍。

And they can reach over 10,000 degree Celsius, exactly the sort of obstacle you'd want to avoid when flying a spacecraft into the sun.

而且它們可以高達一萬多攝氏度，完全就是駕駛太空船時會想要避開的障礙物 。

And the next layer is just as perilous: The photosphere.

而下一層也同樣危險：光球。

This is the surface of the sun we see every day.

這就是我們每天看到的太陽表面。

Down here, you'll start to feel pretty lousy, because the sun's gravity is so strong, a 150-pound person on Earth would weigh about 4,000 pounds here.

在這，你會開始感覺不舒服，因為太陽強大的引力能讓一個在地球重 150 磅的人在太陽上有 4,000 磅的重量。

That's nearly the same as a rhino.

這幾乎和犀牛一樣重。

If you could land here, all that extra weight would crush your bones and pulverize your internal organs.

如果你能夠站在這，這些額外的重量會壓垮你的骨頭，並粉碎你的內部器官。

But if you take a look around, there's nothing here for you to actually land on, because the sun doesn't have any solid surface to speak of.

但如果你看看四周，其實沒有任何東西可以讓你著地，因為太陽根本沒有任何固體表面。

It's just a giant ball of hydrogen and helium gas.

它只是一個巨大的氫氣和氦氣的球。

So instead of landing on the photosphere, you're going to sink into it.

因此，你不會降落在光球上，而是會沉入其中。

One of the biggest dangers in the photosphere comes from these enormous black spots you can see as you look around.

光球中最大的危險之一來自於四周這些巨大的黑點。

These are called sunspots.

這些被稱為太陽黑子。

They're cooler regions of gas, some as large as the entire Earth.

它們是沒那麼熱的氣體區域，有的區域和整個地球一樣大。

The sunspots are produced by powerful magnetic fields coming from inside the sun, which, on one hand, would fry your electronics,

太陽黑子是因來自太陽內部的強大磁場產生，這裡一方面除了會燒燬你的電子設備之外，

but more importantly, where a sunspot forms, a solar flare often follows.

更重要的是，太陽黑子形成的地方往往會伴隨太陽閃焰。

That's when magnetic fields and super hot gas violently erupt from the surface, releasing as much energy as ten billion hydrogen bombs.

那時磁場和超熱氣體會猛烈地從表面噴發出來，釋放出近似於 100 億顆氫彈的能量 。

So let's steer clear of those active regions and make our way to the sun's interior.

接下來避開那些活躍的區域，繼續往太陽內部前進。

Just beneath the surface is the convective zone.

表層的正下方是對流區。

Here, temperatures reach two million degrees Celsius.

在這，溫度達到 200 萬攝氏度。

That's hotter than your heat shield was designed to handle.

這比探測器的隔熱罩的耐熱溫度還要高。

In fact, there's no material on Earth that could withstand this heat.

事實上，地球上沒有任何材料可以承受這種高溫。

The best we've got is a compound called tantalum carbide, which can handle about 4,000 degrees Celsius max.

我們最好的材料是一種叫做碳化鉭的化合物，它可以承受最高約 4000 攝氏度的溫度。

On Earth, we use it to coat jet-engine blades.

在地球上，我們用它來塗抹噴氣式發動機葉片。

So even if we made it this far, we couldn't actually survive down here.

所以就算我們走到了這一步，其實也無法撐住了。

But for curiosity's sake, let's keep going.

不過出於好奇心，我們還是繼續前進吧。

At 200,000 kilometers down, we hit the radiative zone.

在 200,000 公里的地方，我們到達了輻射區。

This is the thickest layer of the sun.

這是最厚的太陽層。

It makes up almost half of the entire radius, so we'll be spending some time here, which isn't great, because the pressure is at least 100 million times greater than at sea level on Earth.

它幾乎佔了整個半徑的一半，所以在這我們會要花多一些時間，不過這不是件好事，因為這的壓力比地球上的海平面至少大一億倍。

Because it's so dense, there's not much room for light waves to travel, which means down here, it's pitch black.

因為壓力是如此密集，所以沒有多的空間讓光傳播，這意味著這裡會漆黑一片。

Instead of traveling across the radiative zone and hitting your eye, the light waves slam into electrons and other particles in the plasma.

光波不會穿越輻射區然後擊中你的眼睛，而會撞上電子和等離子體中的其他顆粒。

And some even rebound inward towards our last stop, the core.

有些甚至會向內反彈到我們的最終站，太陽核心。

500,000 kilometers below the surface, the center of the sun makes up nearly a quarter of its radius.

在表層下 50 萬公里的地方，太陽的中心幾乎佔據了其半徑的四分之一。

Down here, the pressure has risen to more than 200 billion times the pressure at sea level on Earth, pressing the surrounding atoms so closely together that it's about ten times denser than iron.

在這裡，壓力已經上升到地球海平面壓力的 2000 億倍以上，將周圍的原子緊密地壓在一起，其密度大約是鐵的十倍。

Plus, it's a blistering 15 million degrees Celsius, making it the hottest place in the entire solar system.

此外，它的溫度高達 1500 萬攝氏度，是整個太陽系中最熱的地方。

Which makes sense, because almost all of the sun's immense energy is produced in the core.

這是有道理的，因為幾乎所有太陽的巨大能量都是在核心產生的。

That's right, we're traveling through the powerhouse of the sun itself.

沒錯，我們正在穿越太陽自身的能量來源。

Now, contrary to popular belief, the sun is not actually on fire.

與普遍大眾的看法相反，其實太陽上並沒有火。

Instead, all that energy is created through a nuclear reaction, which slams hydrogen atoms together to create larger helium atoms and some extra energy on the side.

相反，所有能量都是通過核反應產生的，核反應將氫原子撞擊在一起以產生更大的氦原子和一些額外的能量。

So even if you managed to survive the blistering heat, the solar flares, and the crushing pressure, you'd now have to climb out of the solar system's biggest nuclear reactor.

所以即使你設法熬過了炎炎高溫、太陽閃焰，以及粉碎性的壓力，你現在也不得不爬出太陽系最大的核反應堆。

Let's just say the odds are not in your favor.

只能說幸運之神不站在你這方。

Maybe our closest encounter to the sun should be on the beach.

也許和太陽最近的相遇還是在海灘上就好。