I was having sort of a difficult year that year

那年我過得有點艱難

because people had this idea of the Mayan apocalypse.

因為人們有這種瑪雅啟示錄的想法。

We kept telling people that there was really no reason

我們一直告訴人們，真的沒有理由

to worry about anything.

來擔心任何事情。

There was nothing unusual astronomically happening.

在天文上沒有任何不尋常的事情發生。

Of course, (laughs) what almost happened

當然，（笑）差點發生的事情

would have been really bad for me to deal with.

這對我來說是非常糟糕的事情。

The sun was in a naturally active period that year.

那一年，太陽正處於自然活躍期。

Every 11 years or so, the sun becomes very active,

每隔11年左右，太陽會變得非常活躍。

and then it gets quieter again.

然後它又變得更安靜了。

But 2012 and 2013 were the peak of this natural cycle.

但2012年和2013年是這個自然週期的高峰。

And so what happened actually is that

是以，實際發生的情況是，

there was a colossal coronal mass ejection.

有一個巨大的日冕物質拋射。

The thing, though, is it went off

不過，問題是，它的爆炸了

on the other side of the sun from the earth.

在太陽的另一邊，與地球相通。

And we had satellites out there in that other direction,

而我們在另一個方向有衛星。

out in the solar system.

在太陽系中。

And they got knocked silly by this big burst

他們被這個大爆炸打懵了

of charged particles from the sun.

來自太陽的帶電粒子。

And so we looked at that, and we were able to observe it

所以我們看了一下，我們能夠觀察到它

and see what had happened and track it and all of that.

看看發生了什麼，並跟蹤它和所有這些。

We all kind of went, "whew." (laughs)

我們都有點去了，"呼"。(笑)

The source of these high-energy particles

這些高能粒子的來源

and exactly how they get accelerated away from the sun

以及它們究竟是如何被加速帶離太陽的

is what we're studying right now.

是我們現在正在研究的問題。

When I say high-energy particles,

當我說到高能粒子時。

I'm talking electrons and protons

我在說電子和質子

and sometimes as large as the nucleus of a helium atom,

有時甚至和氦原子的原子核一樣大。

something like that.

類似這樣的事情。

And they get blasted through our solar system

他們被炸穿了我們的太陽系

at a million miles an hour in some cases.

在某些情況下，以每小時一百萬英里的速度。

And so we have this very high-energy wind.

是以，我們有這種非常高能量的風。

It changes planets.

它改變了行星。

It's responsible for Mars losing its atmosphere over time

它對火星隨著時間的推移失去其大氣層負責

and becoming this cold, dead desert.

併成為這個冰冷、死寂的沙漠。

It's responsible for Venus becoming

它對金星成為

this hellish thing that we know it.

我們知道的這個地獄般的東西。

It actually blasted away all of the lighter molecules,

它實際上炸掉了所有較輕的分子。

like water, and it left Venus with an atmosphere

像水一樣，它給金星留下了一個大氣層

of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid

的二氧化碳和硫酸

and, ugh, yeah, really bad stuff.

還有，唉，是的，真的很糟糕的東西。

The only reason the earth is not really affected by it much

地球沒有真正受到它的影響的唯一原因是

is because we have a very strong magnetic field.

是因為我們有一個非常強大的磁場。

And so our molten metal core,

是以，我們的熔融金屬核心。

all that molten metal moving around inside the earth

所有這些熔化的金屬在地球上移動著

generates a magnetic bottle around the earth.

產生了一個圍繞地球的磁瓶。

And that protects us from the solar wind.

而這可以保護我們免受太陽風的影響。

But someday, the sun will actually

但總有一天，太陽會真正

pretty much blast away our atmosphere.

幾乎把我們的大氣層都炸掉了。

So planets change.

是以，行星會發生變化。

We have this early warning system

我們有這個早期預警系統

to see if there's something dangerous coming from the sun.

看看是否有什麼危險的東西從太陽上傳來。

And we would have probably about a day's notice

而我們大概有一天的時間通知

as one of these big storms made its way through the sun.

當這些大風暴之一穿過太陽時。

The sun we think of as putting off lots of light,

我們認為的太陽是放出大量的光。

and light travels at the speed of light,

而光以光的速度傳播。

which takes about eight minutes to get from the sun to us.

從太陽到我們需要大約8分鐘。

But this isn't light.

但這並不輕。

These are charged particles, protons and electrons.

這些是帶電粒子，質子和電子。

And although they may be moving millions of miles an hour,

儘管它們可能以每小時數百萬英里的速度移動。

it still will take them about a day or more

他們仍然需要大約一天或更長時間

to get to the earth.

以到達地球。

So we will have some warning.

所以我們會有一些警告。

The solar wind normally

太陽風通常

doesn't really have much danger to us

對我們來說沒有什麼危險

or the environment in space.

或空間的環境。

But just like weather implies,

但就像天氣暗示的那樣。

when you're dealing with space weather,

當你在處理空間天氣時。

sometimes there's a really big line

有時會有一條真正的大線

of thunderstorms coming through.

雷雨天氣的到來。

So in the case of the sun,

所以在太陽的情況下。

the sun sometimes has very, very violent storms.

太陽有時會有非常、非常猛烈的風暴。

And these are storms caused

而這些都是暴風雨造成的

by the chaotic, twisting magnetic field of the sun.

被太陽混亂、扭曲的磁場所影響。

Some of the hot gas on the surface of the sun

太陽表面的一些熱氣

actually gets accelerated so quickly

居然這麼快就被加速了

by these magnetic fields

被這些磁場影響

that it just breaks off and takes off into space.

它就這樣斷裂並飛向太空。

And in one moment, you could have trillions of tons

而在一瞬間，你可能有數萬億噸的

of fast, high-moving, charged material

快速、高流動、帶電的材料

coming out towards the Earth.

朝著地球出來的。

Now, that's not actually very dangerous to us biologically,

現在，這在生物學上對我們來說其實並不十分危險。

but what that can do is carry a huge amount

但這可以做的是攜帶大量的

of electrical and magnetic energy.

電能和磁能的。

All of a sudden, all these charged particles

突然間，所有這些帶電粒子

hit the magnetic field of the Earth.

撞擊地球的磁場。

And it can actually dump electric current

而且它實際上可以傾倒電流

right into our magnetic field.

直接進入我們的磁場。

In the case of all of our satellites

就我們所有的衛星而言

up above the atmosphere, they're very at risk.

在大氣層之上，他們非常危險。

So we can basically shut them down,

是以，我們基本上可以關閉它們。

put them to sleep for a little while.

讓他們睡上一小會兒。

And of course, that energy burst will hit them,

當然，這種能量爆發也會擊中他們。

and it may damage their detectors,

而且可能會損壞他們的探測器。

but at least most of the electronics are shut down

但至少大部分的電子設備都被關閉了

at the time, and we can recover them, hopefully.

當時，我們可以恢復它們，希望如此。

And then there may even be plans

然後甚至可能有計劃

that are necessary to shut down parts of power grids

這對關閉部分電網是必要的

because I think the biggest danger of these things to us

因為我認為這些東西對我們最大的危險是

is that when they actually hit the Earth's field,

是，當它們真正撞上地球的領域時。

you can have so much, again,

你可以擁有這麼多，再次。

energy in that magnetic field of the earth

地球磁場中的能量

that it could fry our power grids.

它可能會燒燬我們的電力網。

Think about how bad it would be if all the power on earth

想一想，如果地球上所有的權力都被剝奪了，那會有多糟糕？

just went out because of one of these solar storms.

由於這些太陽風暴之一，剛剛熄滅。

That could conceivably cause billions

可想而知，這可能會導致數十億

or maybe even trillions of dollars of damage.

甚至可能是數萬億美元的損失。

So there are people rehearsing these scenarios.

是以，有人在排練這些場景。

There are people trying to figure out

有的人試圖弄清楚

how we would shut things down,

我們將如何關閉事情。

how we would protect ourselves.

我們將如何保護自己。

And then we have our fleet of satellites

然後我們有我們的衛星艦隊

trying to observe the sun all the time.

試圖一直觀察太陽。

But yes, all around you,

但是，是的，在你周圍。

there are people monitoring space weather

有人在監測空間天氣

and getting ready for a big storm.

並準備迎接一場大風暴。

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