Trying to explain it in a way that's easy to understand, well that's a whole other challenge.

要想解釋得通俗易懂，那又是另一項挑戰了。

In 1977, Charles and Ray Eames, hugely influential American designers, released one of the most elegant and creative pieces of science communication of modern times, Powers of Ten.

1977 年，極具影響力的美國設計師查爾斯-伊姆斯（Charles Eames）和雷-伊姆斯（Ray Eames）推出了現代最優雅、最具創意的科學傳播作品之一--《十的力量》（Powers of Ten）。

It took the viewers on a journey from a picnic blanket near Lake Michigan to the edge of the known universe, and back again.

它帶領觀眾從密歇根湖邊的野餐毯出發，前往已知宇宙的邊緣，然後再返回。

Over 40 years later, as a humble homage to this groundbreaking film, we're going to take a similar journey through time and space, and see how our understanding has changed along the way.

40 多年後的今天，為了向這部開創性的電影致以崇高的敬意，我們將進行一次類似的時空之旅，看看我們的認識在這一路上發生了怎樣的變化。

As in 1977, we'll start with a picnic, though this time we're on the island of Sicily in Italy, rather than Lake Michigan.

和 1977 年一樣，我們將從野餐開始，不過這次我們去的是意大利的西西里島，而不是密歇根湖。

We'll start with a scene one metre wide, viewed from one metre away, and every ten seconds we're going to move out to ten times further away, so the scene will be ten times wider.

我們從一米寬的場景開始，從一米遠的地方觀看，每隔十秒鐘，我們將把場景移到十倍遠的地方，是以場景將變寬十倍。

This square is ten metres wide, and in ten seconds the next square will be ten times that.

這個正方形有 10 米寬，10 秒鐘後，下一個正方形的寬度將是原來的 10 倍。

The movement may seem linear, but we're actually accelerating exponentially into the distance.

運動看似線性，但實際上我們正以指數級的速度向遠方加速。

This square is a hundred metres wide, the distance someone can run in ten seconds, well, if they're running at 43 kilometres an hour, just under the speed of your cat.

這個廣場有一百米寬，這是一個人在十秒鐘內能跑完的距離，如果他以每小時 43 公里的速度奔跑的話，也就是剛剛低於你的貓的速度。

One kilometre. Though our picnickers are indistinguishable now, we can still clearly see the impact of human activity on the world.

一公里雖然現在我們的野餐者已經無法分辨，但我們仍然可以清楚地看到人類活動對世界的影響。

Ten thousand metres, or ten to the four metres.

一萬米，即十比四米。

This is the distance a supersonic plane travels in ten seconds, and we're now reaching the highest altitude flown by such a plane.

這是一架超音速飛機在 10 秒鐘內飛行的距離，而我們現在正達到這種飛機飛行的最高高度。

Ten to the five metres. This is the distance the International Space Station travels in ten seconds.

10到5米。這是國際空間站在十秒鐘內的飛行距離。

There it goes. From here on, human activity will be lost to sight. We're at the scale of countries.

就是這樣。從這裡開始，人類活動將消失在視線中。我們已經達到了國家的規模。

One million metres, or ten to the six metres.

一百萬米，即 10 比 6 米。

We've long left Earth's atmosphere, and soon we'll see the whole planet. What a duel.

我們早已離開地球大氣層，很快就能看到整個地球。好一場決鬥

Ten million metres.

一千萬米

The invisible magnetosphere shields us from the dangerous ionising radiation of space.

無形的磁層為我們抵禦了危險的太空電離輻射。

Ten to the eight metres. This line extends at the speed of light.

十米到八米這條線以光速延伸。

This is the time it takes for light to reach us from the Moon's orbit. The age of moonlight.

這是光線從月球軌道到達我們所需的時間。月光的年齡。

The Earth is now just a pale blue dot in a sky full of stars.

地球現在只是滿天繁星中的一個淡藍色小點。

Even as we accelerate away, the stars appear stationary, because they're so much further away.

即使我們加速離開，恆星看起來也是靜止的，因為它們離我們太遠了。

So much empty space. Let's illustrate the orbits of the planets in our solar system, otherwise this could get a bit dull.

這麼多空洞的空間。讓我們來說明一下太陽系的行星軌道吧，否則會有點枯燥乏味。

Here comes the orbit of Venus, then Mars, and now Mercury.

接著是金星軌道，然後是火星，現在是水星。

Since 2010, the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory has been using an extreme ultraviolet filter to monitor the activity of our Sun.

自 2010 年以來，美國國家航空航天局太陽動力學天文臺一直在使用極紫外線濾光片來監測太陽的活動。

Finally, we reach the orbit of the outer planets, the gas giants, but just specks at this distance.

最後，我們到達了外行星的軌道，它們是氣態巨行星，但在這個距離上只是小點。

There's the orbit of Pluto, one of the dwarf planets of the Kuiper belt.

還有冥王星的軌道，它是柯伊伯帶的矮行星之一。

Ten to the thirteen metres, and we're moving out of the solar system.

10米到13米，我們正在離開太陽系。

In 2012, the Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first human artefact to make this journey, followed in 2018 by its twin, Voyager 2.

2012 年，"旅行者 1 號 "宇宙飛船成為人類首次踏上這一旅程，隨後在 2018 年，它的孿生兄弟 "旅行者 2 號 "也踏上了這一旅程。

Both were launched in 1977, the year the Eames were working on Powers of Ten.

這兩款產品都是在 1977 年推出的，也就是伊姆斯夫婦創作《Powers of Ten》的那一年。

We're heading into interstellar space. Our Sun is just one of billions of stars.

我們正在進入星際空間。我們的太陽只是數十億顆恆星中的一顆。

And still, at this distance, the night sky looks very similar to what we see at home.

而且，在這個距離上，夜空看起來仍然與我們在家裡看到的非常相似。

This square is ten to the sixteen metres. The distance light travels in one year. One light year.

這個平方是 10 到 16 米。光在一年中所走的距離。一光年。

Here's our closest neighbour, Alpha Centauri. Three stars for the price of one, with planets orbiting around them.

這是我們最近的鄰居，半人馬座阿爾法星。三顆恆星的價格只有一顆，行星圍繞著它們運行。

I'd love to know what's going on there.

我很想知道那裡發生了什麼。

Thanks to data collected by the Gaia spacecraft, we're building a detailed 3D map of the Milky Way.

得益於蓋婭太空梭收集的數據，我們正在繪製一幅詳細的銀河三維地圖。

There are between 100 and 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone, and clouds of dust and gas like these nebulae, where new stars are born.

僅在我們的銀河系中就有 1,000 億到 4,000 億顆恆星，還有像這些星雲一樣的塵埃和氣體雲，新恆星就誕生在這裡。

Images sent from the Hubble Space Telescope have been blowing our minds for a generation.

哈勃太空望遠鏡發送的影像已經震撼了我們一代人的心靈。

As we move away, we begin to see the great flat spiral of our galaxy.

隨著時間的推移，我們開始看到銀河系巨大的扁平螺旋。

A few hundred billion stars rotating around a black hole. Sagittarius A star. 4.2 million times more massive than our Sun.

圍繞黑洞旋轉的數千億顆恆星。人馬座 A 星。品質是太陽的 420 萬倍。

We now think supermassive black holes reside at the centre of nearly all galaxies.

我們現在認為，幾乎所有星系的中心都有超大品質黑洞。

These two dwarf galaxies are the Magellanic Clouds, which together with at least 80 others, make up what's known as the Local Group of Galaxies.

這兩個矮星系就是麥哲倫雲，它們與至少 80 個其他星系一起組成了所謂的本星系群。

10 to the 22. One million light years. Soon we'll pass the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87.

10到22。一百萬光年很快我們就會經過超巨型橢圓星系 M87。

And if we switch to radio waves, we can glimpse the supermassive black hole at its centre.

如果我們切換到無線電波，就能看到其中心的超大品質黑洞。

Switching back to visible light as we traverse the Virgo supercluster.

當我們穿越室女座超星系團時，轉回可見光。

Each tiny dot, not a star, but a galaxy. Billions of stars floating in an ever-growing void.

每一個小點，不是一顆恆星，而是一個星系。數十億顆恆星漂浮在不斷擴大的虛空中。

At 10 to the 24 metres, the limits of our vision in 1977. But over 40 years later, we can show a bit more.

10 至 24 米，這是 1977 年我們的視野極限。但 40 多年後的今天，我們可以展示更多的東西。

Clusters of galaxies arranged along filaments, like the Pisces-Ceta supercluster complex.

沿絲狀排列的星系團，如雙魚座-開塔座超星系團複合體。

At 10 to the 26 metres, we switch our view to microwave, and we can now see the current limit of our vision.

在 10 至 26 米處，我們將視角切換到微波，現在我們可以看到目前的視野極限。

This light forms a sort of wall all around us.

這些光線在我們周圍形成了一堵牆。

The light and dark patches show differences in temperature by fractions of a degree.

亮斑和暗斑顯示出零點幾度的溫差。

Revealing where matter was beginning to clump together to form the first galaxies shortly after the Big Bang.

揭示了宇宙大爆炸後不久，物質開始聚集在一起形成第一批星系的地方。

This light is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

這種光被稱為宇宙微波背景輻射。

10 to the 27 metres. One followed by 27 zeros.

10 到 27 米。1 後面是 27 個零。

Beyond this point, the nature of the universe is truly uncharted and debated.

除此之外，宇宙的本質確實是未知的，也是有爭議的。

This light was emitted around 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

這道光是在宇宙大爆炸後約 38 萬年發出的。

Before this time, the universe was so hot that it was not transparent to light.

在此之前，宇宙是如此炙熱，以至於對光都不透明。

Is there simply more universe out there, yet to be revealed?

是否還有更多的宇宙尚未揭示？

Or is this region still expanding, generating more universe?

還是這個區域仍在擴張，產生更多的宇宙？

Or even other universes with different physical properties to our own?

甚至是與我們的宇宙具有不同物理特性的其他宇宙？

How will our understanding of the universe have changed by 2077?

到 2077 年，我們對宇宙的認識會發生怎樣的變化？

How many more powers of 10 are out there?

還有多少個 10 的冪次？

From a picnic blanket on Sicily to the very edge of our understanding,

從西西里島上的野餐毯到我們理解的最邊緣、

I salute the Eames for the way they told this beautiful story.

我對伊姆斯夫婦講述這個美麗故事的方式表示敬意。

The story of the universe.

宇宙的故事

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

美國國家航空航天局噴氣推進實驗室、加州理工學院