Unfortunately, the universe will die. It will happen slowly, over many billions of years,

不幸的是，宇宙將會終結， 這將會十分緩慢，耗費數百億年

but it will happen. On a universal time scale, stars like our sun will be gone in no time.

但它終將發生，

Luckily, there are places that will exist practically forever from a human perspective:

以宇宙的時間來看，像恆星一樣我們的太陽隨時會消失

the corpses of dead stars...

幸好以人類的角度來看，這似乎永遠不會發生

white dwarfs.

死亡恆星的屍體

They could be humanity's last home right before the death of the universe.

白矮星

What are these strange things and what happens when they finally die?

他們可能是人類在這宇宙死前中最後的家園

How long stars live varies drastically,

這些奇怪的白矮星到底是什麼東西？ 而在它們死後又會發生什麼事了呢？

depending on how massive they are.

恆星的壽明差異十分巨大，

For example, really massive stars burn hot and fast, dying violently in supernova a few million years after birth.

可以根據他們的質量的大小而定。

But they're the exception.

例如超巨大質量恆星燃燒地很熱和很快速， 接著在誕生的幾百萬年後變成超新星死亡

97% of all stars will end their existence as white dwarfs.

但他們是例外

There are two ways this can happen:

全宇宙97％的恆星，將會以白矮星形式結束生命

Small stars - so-called red dwarfs - burn out over trillions of years until they eventually quietly turn into white dwarfs.

有兩種方式能導致這種情況：

Medium-sized stars like our sun are more interesting.

小恆星也就是紅矮星，將在燃燒過萬億年後， 燃燒殆盡，悄然地變成白矮星

Imagine the sun as a huge pressure cooker that fuses hydrogen into helium in its core through its gravity.

中型恆星像我們的太陽則更有趣

The fusion of elements releases extreme amounts of energy,

想像太陽為一個巨大的壓力鍋， 在其核心透過重力將氫融合成氦

that pushes outwards and stabilizes the star, keeping it in a delicate balance.

元素的融合釋放極大的能量

When the sun is old, the hydrogen in the core is exhausted,

並向外推動並穩定恆星，將其保持在一個微妙的平衡

and the sun will begin to burn helium into heavier elements.

當太陽老了，在核心的氫將耗盡

While doing so, it will shed its outer layers.

和太陽開始將氦燃燒成更重的元素

When this process is over more than half of the sun's mass will be lost into space as a spectacular

當這麼做時，它將會擺脫它的外層

planetary nebula millions of kilometers across.

當這個過程結束時， 一半以上的太陽質量，將會散發到太空中

What remains will be its former core:

變成壯觀的行星星雲遍佈百萬公里

A white dwarf is born, a star corpse.

剩下的將是其舊的核心

While its former self was about 100 times its diameter, now

這就是白矮星，恆星的屍體

it's only about as big as Earth, but still with about half of its former mass.

雖然它先前的直徑大約是它的100倍

This means it's extremely dense, a teaspoon of white dwarf is about as massive as a car.

現在只有跟地球差不多的大小， 但仍然保留大約之前一半的質量

Its surface gravity is over 100,000 times higher than Earth's.

這意味著它是非常稠密， 一茶匙的白矮星與汽車的質量差不多

If you tried to land on it, you'd immediately be compressed into a steaming puddle.

它的表面重力比地球高出10萬倍

Life around a white dwarf is very unlikely, but possible.

如果你試圖降落， 你會立刻被壓縮成一個熱氣騰騰的水坑

Most of them that exist now were former stars that, well, died, which probably ruined any planets they once had.

在白矮星周圍的生命是非常困難的，但是有可能

But that's not all: since they are so small,

大多數的恆星，在變成白矮星的時， 都可能會把其周圍的行星給摧毀

a planet would need to orbit them about 75 times closer than earth is to the sun to have liquid water.

但是，這還不是全部

This proximity has up- and downsides:

因為他們是如此之小

for one, it would tidally lock the planet giving it a permanent day and permanent night.

一個行星需要比地球與太陽間的距離約小75倍， 才可能有液態水

At the edges of these day and night zones life could be possible.

這具有正反兩面的影響，

But white dwarfs have a very stable energy output,

一個將緊緊鎖定這個星球並給它一個永恆的白天與黑夜

so they might actually be safer to live around than many red dwarfs.

而這些日夜區的邊緣，生命有可能存在的

This is still speculation at this point,

但是白矮星有一個非常穩定的能源輸出

but if we could find the white dwarf with the right conditions to settle around,

所以他們實際上可能比居住在紅矮星周圍更安全

we could have a home for many billions of years.

但這只是一個推測

But why do they shine so much longer than other star types?

但是如果我們能找到適當的條件的白矮星定居

White dwarfs are very, very hot - up to 40 times hotter than our sun -

我們可以有一個數十億年的家

ranking among the hottest objects in the universe.

但是，他們為何比其他恆星閃耀更久？

But they are not incredibly active.

白矮星非常非常的熱，比我們的太陽更熱高達40倍

All the heat inside of them is trapped and has nowhere to go.

在宇宙中最熱的東西

Only on its outer layer can it escape into space.

但他們並不是非常活躍

But space is mostly empty, so heat can't be transferred by conduction.

他們所有的熱被困住在裡面，無處可去

The only way energy can escape is by radiation.

僅在其外層的可以逃離到宇宙中

This is so inefficient that white dwarfs will take trillions of years to cool down,

但宇宙大部分是空的，這樣的熱不能透過傳導移動

which may make them humanity's last refuge.

能量唯一可以逃離的方法是通過輻射

They might be the last sources of light and energy in a dying universe.

這個方式效率非常的低，故白矮星將需要億萬年降溫

According to some estimates white dwarfs might shine as long as 100 billion billion years,

這可使它們變成人類的最後的避難所

ten billion times longer than the universe has existed. So far into the future that no regular stars will shine any more,

他們可能是在一個垂死的宇宙中，最後的光和能量來源

galaxies will have evaporated, and

據估計白矮星可能可以閃耀千億乘上百億年

only then will the first white dwarf turn into the first black dwarf.

比宇宙產生至今的時間多百億倍， 到時將沒有任何一顆一般恆星會閃耀

When this happens the last hope for life will die off.

星系已經揮發

Black dwarfs will be inactive spheres with no energy left to give,

只有這樣，第一個白矮星才會變成第一個黑矮星

still massive enough to kill you if you get too close.

當這種情況發生，所有的生命希望將會消失

So cold that they'll be near the coldest possible temperature in the universe,

黑矮星將是不活動的恆星，沒有任何多餘的能量去發散

so dark that they are practically invisible.

儘管如此如果你太靠近，它的質量還是足以殺死你

The universe will enter its last stage - heat death - which will leave the universe unrecognizable,

超級冷，他們可能是宇宙中最冷的東西

an absolutely dark and cold graveyard,

太黑了，他們幾乎是隱形的

with black holes and black dwarfs scattered over trillions of lightyears.

宇宙將會進入最後階段 - 熱寂

We don't know for sure what will happen with black dwarfs in the end.

將會讓宇宙變得面目全非

If the proton - one of the fundamental parts of atoms - has a limited lifespan,

絕對黑暗和寒冷的墓地

black dwarfs will slowly evaporate over many trillions of years.

黑洞與黑矮星散落在億萬光年中

If the proton does not decay,

我們不知道最終黑矮星會發生什麼事

black dwarfs will probably turn into spheres of pure iron via quantum tunneling, over a timespan

如果組成原子的質子具有有限的壽命

so obscenely gigantic that calling it forever is okay.

黑矮星將會經過很多億萬年慢慢的揮發

These iron spheres will then travel completely alone through a dark universe.

如果質子不衰減

Nothing new will happen anymore...

在漫長的時間裡，黑矮星可能會因量子隧穿效應 而慢慢的變成純鐵

forever.

由於所需時間太長了，所以我們可以稱它為永恆

While this may sound kind of dark, this is so far away that for our purposes today, it might as well not happen at all.

而這些鐵球會獨自的在這個黑暗的宇宙中旅行

It doesn't matter what happens in a billion trillion years.

將不再有任何的事情發生

Right now, we happen to exist at an excellent time,

直到永遠

able to be in awe about a universe filled with endless stars and light and planets.

這可能聽起來有點悲觀，但這離我們實在太遙遠了， 從我們的觀點來看，它可能根本不會發生

And enough time to visit them one day.

在億億萬年以後會發生什麼都沒關係

Our music is finally available on Spotify and iTunes. it's composed by our good friends at Epic Mountain,

現在，我們恰好存在在這個完美時代

two guys with a studio who make music for a living.

能夠去觀賞，這個充滿無盡的恆星與光芒與行星的宇宙

You can check them out here, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. And if you like our videos,

並有足夠的時間，在有朝一日去探訪他們

please consider supporting us on Patreon.

我們的音樂終於可以在Spotify上的iTunes上取得了， 它是由我們的合作夥伴Epic Mountain製作的

It really would be extremely helpful.

由兩個人所建的一個工作室，其為了生活而創作音樂。

If you need an excuse to delay work a little bit longer, here's a playlist with more space videos.

你可以在這裡查看他們， 並且追蹤他們的Facebook和Twitter。